Into the Darkness of the LV Mob
by SpiderKateCriminalMind
Summary: Emily is back, but the lack of trust between Reid and the team finally gets to him, so he attempts drugs again. That is until he gets a job offer to be an undercover agent in Las Vegas. Only problem, he has to pose as a drug dealer! Reid-centric. I'm sorry guys, this is going to be HIATUS again, I'm having family difficulties and I'm finishing high school. I will write when I can.
1. Chapter 1: Attmpt foiled

This is an idea that's been floating in my head for months, literally months. Charlie (My OC) is in it, but it's very Reid centric after you get past the first couple chapters. It'll be good. This is also my second fanfiction (Not counting my oneshot) Please enjoy and no flames, constructive critisism is nice. Also It will become more Reid centric after the first few chapters. Charlie is technically setting the scene for him. She is his trainer and there will be no romance between the two.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of their characters, I do however own Charlie Moscoe and her family.

"_She never made it off the table."_

"_I didn't get a chance to say good bye."_

He trusted her, he trusted him, but they lied. They lied and lied and lied again! How could he even attempt to trust them again? If lying were to be described as a physical action it would definitely be shown as ripping one's heart into pieces. He couldn't count how many times he was on the verge of using again. It was a thought that was almost always in his brain. No matter how many times he thought he would do it, he saw how disappointed his team would be, how disappointed _Emily_ would be. He would never do it. Although he could admit he was close, there was only one time. Spencer had just left JJ's and had walked to the subway when he saw a runner. He could immediately tell that he worked for _him_ so he knew that that man would have Dilaudid. He actually bought a vial. Only one. At home while he was about to use it he realized he had no needles. He was actually saved by forgetting something. After that he hid the vial in his medicine cabinet and never looked at it again.

The early days at work were getting to him. Or maybe it was the lack of trust he had in JJ, Hotch and Emily. Every time he saw them his heart hurt just that much more, he could hear the word betrayal whispering through his mind like he was crazy and he hated it. He hated it with more anger than he could ever comprehend having. The anger was so unavoidable, the only people he could trust were Morgan and Rossi, and even Rossi seemed like he knew she was alive. Couldn't he have at least shared his theories that she was alive with Reid? Of course not! Nobody cares how he feels, how he falls apart easily, how trust is something so very rarely earned with him. The team just doesn't get him, doesn't understand him. Why might you ask? Maybe because he's such a screw up, or a drug addict or just plain annoying!

Reid's thoughts had been in turmoil for a week since Emily's return, when suddenly they started to focus on forgetting. Just giving up and forgetting every little problem that had been plaguing him. All the headaches, the sickness, the betrayal, the lack of trust, the horrors in his past just everything! There was never any way to forget without help, he did have an eidetic memory after all. So now sitting on the edge of his bed with the unused vial of Dilaudid he bought weeks ago and a new un-opened needle he had gotten that day he was finally ready to forget, finally ready to just give up.

The day had been hell. There was no other way to describe it. Morgan, as always, had been worrying about him. He'd been asking if he was okay all day and of course Reid had answered with, yes I'm fine. Hotch and JJ had asked him how he was too. Reid felt they didn't have a right to ask him how he was. They didn't have a right to know anything about him. He couldn't trust them anymore. There was only one good part about that day and it was the short phone call he had gotten. Charlie had been checking in on him more often.

After he had gotten back to the BAU after another week off from being sick, and poisoned, the two had gotten close. Charlie and Reid would talk on the phone almost every day. It was like best friends at first sight. They told each other everything except, even though she would understand, Reid didn't tell her about his addiction. He still had a little trouble with trust and he especially didn't want to broadcast the fact that he, a genius with an IQ of 187, was addicted to drugs, drugs that were in close relation to Heroin which was what Charlie had an addiction to.

Charlie had called earlier that day while he was at work. She had been checking up on him because even she could tell, from over the phone, that there was something off about him. He had told her about Emily's miraculous return and she helped him out by taking his side. Then she realized he was on a slippery slope that he could Fall down any second so she called him, a lot. She tried to make him talk his problems out but the more he did the more frustrated he got and the more frustrated he got the more he craved. She had called him that day to tell him that she was going to be in Virginia sometime in the next couple of days and she would love to get coffee with him. He had gotten a bright spot in his day from that, until Hotch.

Hotch had tried to talk to him, to see if he could help out. That in turn just made Reid's angry hate bubble up to the forefront of his mind. It just wouldn't go away. Intellectually Reid knew he was getting upset over something incredibly trivial and stupid. Intellectually he knew that they were only trying to protect Emily and the team. Intellectually he knew all this, but he didn't give a damn. He really wanted to forget everything after that little talk with Hotch. He wanted to, so _god damn_ bad, that he left work early. He practically cried in relief when he walked out of the small drug store he would get needles from. When he got home he turned off all the lights, drew all the curtains and locked the door. He was not to be interrupted.

He decided he deserved this. He could do whatever he wanted. The team obviously wouldn't care because they didn't even _trust_ him. He had already put the belt on his arm to help cut circulation. He already had the needle opened up and he already had the Dilaudid inside it. He lined it up perfectly to his vein with the skills he acquired after months of prior use. Just as he was about to put the needle into his arm he heard it, the three little noises that shattered his drug craving world around him. Three little knocks at his door. Then three more when he still hadn't answered. Then an annoyed voice that told him they were going to break down the door and kick his skinny white ass if he didn't open the door. Slowly and somewhat numbly he undid the belt from around his arm; he put the needle with Dilaudid in it down on his bedside table. He didn't even bother to remove the liquid inside; he had full intentions of using it later once he got rid of the unwelcomed visitor at his door. He quickly walked to the door; his face twisted into a scowl, and unlocked the deadbolt and chain.

"What?" He all but snarled as he ripped open the door.

"Is that really how you treat all your guests?" Came the familiar lilting voice that held the hope of saving Reid from using again.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as she pushed her way inside.

"I told you I was coming to DC didn't I? Technically I'm here on business, but that business involves you, if you'd like..." She said turning to look him full on.

"...What?" He asked for the second time, almost completely forgetting about the drugs in his room.

"I'm here to offer you an undercover position, Dr. Reid." And just like that Charlie saved Spencer from himself without even meaning to.

"What?"

"You heard me didn't you? A job, a J.O.B, is there anybody even upstairs today?" She said pointing at his head and flopping down on his sofa.

"Why?" He managed to get out, his thoughts had decided to turmoil again.

"Because you're a freaking genius, and my team really needs that. With all your strategic thinking and amazing poker skills we'll be able to get this job done in no time." She told him sitting up as he sat down across from her on the coffee table.

"I... uh..." Spencer stuttered, trying to find more words to say.

"Are you okay? Cause to me you look like you're determined to get a... fix." She said taking in his dishevelled appearance and the sleeve that was rolled up past his sleeve.

"Give me your arm." Reid's eyes snapped open and was about to tug his arm away when she grabbed it and pulled his arm toward her.

"Are these... are these track marks?"

"I... yes." He mumbled quietly, his eyes downcast, "But I haven't used in like 5 years, I could tell you the exact amount of years and months but at the moment I'm too lazy. Which is shocking because I'm practically never lazy and..."

"Shut up Spencer." She told him, still examining his arm, "You were going to use tonight weren't you?" He didn't respond he just looked down toward the floor.

"What... why... how? You're... you're supposed to be smart! How did you get addicted to drugs?" She exclaimed.

"I... uh... it's a long story and..." He trailed off, not exactly sure what to say.

"Tell me, and trust me when I say this won't change the way I think of you, just like my addiction doesn't change the way you think of me. I can relate to this Spence! You should trust me, please." The sincerity in her eyes was amazing. He could see the truth and the complete trust she had in him. So why shouldn't he trust her?

"It, it all started with an unsub named Tobias Hankle..."


	2. Chapter 2: The big ol' Plan

Alrighty, this is a lot of need to know info, and yes it is all dialogue and not very touchy feeling with emotions. But without this knowledge you will be thinking WTF? Throughout the rest of the story. Just saying. Alright please enjoy. And also Charlie is going to be in and out of this story since it's all about Reid. He is the focal point while she helps the story to keep revolving around him.

...

"That is one crazy mother fucker." Charlie said once Reid finished talking about his experience.

"You're telling me." He said, his voice starting to sound defeated and world weary.

"Alright, down to business," Charlie told him and forced him to look at her, "Let's get rid of your Dilaudid, shall we?" She stood up and he stayed seated.

"Spencer, you seriously do not want this stuff around you! Do you want to become addicted again? Do you want to lose yourself to a drug you were unwilling to take? Look, relapsing isn't fun, it takes you so much longer to get back on track, the withdrawal you feel is so much worse than the first time. Even though you'll forget it will all come back. You can't just do this to yourself!"

"Do you think I care?" Spencer yelled standing up to his full height, "I don't care! Nobody cares! Nobody cared to tell me Emily was alive! So why in hell should I care about this! I want this! I want to forget! I want to get rid of this anger and frustration and hatred that has been plaguing me! I know that Hotch and JJ and Emily, I know they did this to protect her and the team but I just can't forgive them for what they did! I can't!" He was crying by this point, the tears trailing down his face. He wiped at them angrily and Charlie's eyes softened.

"I don't expect you to," She told him softly as she took his hands in her's, "But you don't want this, I may not be a profiler, and I may not have known you for very long, but I know you don't want this."

"I... I do, god I want it so bad but I don't at the same time. It feels like I'm being pulled in different directions." He muttered sniffling a little as his tears still trailed down his face.

"I relapsed twice. Once I got over it by myself, the second time I overdosed and wound up in the hospital. I have never seen my brother or my dad look that worried. I was sent to rehab for that one. The only reason I still have my position and my job is because my dad is General Moscoe of the Marines undercover division and my brother is the captain of my unit. God Reid, you would not be let back into the FBI after this, and they would find out about it. I mean, I couldn't even pull the strings to get you back in and my connections go straight to the head of the FBI."

"You relapsed twice?" He asked in a small voice.

"Yes and it's not fun, so it's definitely not going to happen to you." Reid realized her hands were still holding his so he backed out of the slight embrace.

"So the job?" He asked quietly.

"Why don't we talk about that later and you give me the drugs." She put her hand out expectantly. He stiffly got up and walked to his bedroom to hand over the vial of Dilaudid and the needle. He waited for her to get up and dump the contents out into the sink, but instead she opened the small vial and depressed the contents back into it. Then she broke the needle and threw it out, all the while putting the small vial in her pocket.

"Um, I think to avoid temptation you throw all the contents of the addiction out." Reid told her nervously.

"Yeah but this vial is all a part of my fun little plan that we'll talk about once you've slept some. Off with you, you look like crap." She pushed him n direction of his bedroom.

"If you don't mind, I'll be sleeping on your couch tonight, got any extra blankets?" She asked.

"Uh yeah, down the hall in the linen closet. Why didn't you ask me if I had any more Dilaudid than what I gave you?"

"I trust you, simple as that. Now sleep we have a long couple of weeks... to months to get through..." She smiled and walked off down the hall to get the blankets, leaving Reid stunned.

...

The next morning Charlie forced Reid to call in sick. He told her he really needed to work but she insisted, and by insisted she told him she would tackle him if he tried to leave.

"So the plan you said that was so much fun?" Reid asked as they sat down and drank coffee.

"Right, well... I'm going to get you fired from the FBI."

"WHAT?" He exclaimed, choking on his coffee.

"Don't worry, you won't actually be fired, it's just going to be a temporary thing. I'll arrange it with the head of the BAU and that Strauss lady you like to complain about. My dad already wrote up a contract for you and you don't start for four weeks." Charlie lazily commented.

"How are we going to get me fired from the BAU?"

"Well seeing as you were already on the verge of using until I smacked some sense back into you... you're going to be fake using. I'm going to get Strauss to find you 'fake' shooting up and she'll fire you. And anyway, aren't you all like crazy mad at the team, except Morgan, anyway? I don't think it will be hard to act all bitchy and druggy..."

"But I still want the drug, how am I supposed to fake use it when I want to actually use it?" Reid practically screamed. Frustration was leaking out of him. Charlie was making absolutely no sense. Even though he knew he could act like he was on it, but he didn't want to hurt Morgan. Yet at the same time there was an odd urge to hurt Hotch, JJ and Emily for what they did to him. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he wanted some revenge.

"Another thing, you're a weakling."

"Wait what?" He snapped. He hated it when people called him weak. Suddenly Charlie punched him in the arm.

"OW!" Reid complained.

"See? Weak. Not mentally or anything, but physically? Physically you have the strength of a thirteen year old girl, Dr. Reid." Charlie chuckled.

"Thanks." Reid replied sarcastically.

"So what I need to do is build you up, train you to fight, and maybe I'll even teach you how to shoot a gun with your left hand as well as your right hand." Reid's jaw dropped in awe. He'd never be able to do all that, yet when Charlie said it, she made it sound like he could do it easily. Then a thought occurred to him.

"Charlie, what is this undercover operation you want me to go on?"

"Well, I want you to help me infiltrate the house of a mobster in Vegas. We're going to be posing as drug dealers." She told him simply.

"Drug dealers?"

"Yeah, what? Did you think we'd be posing as show girls?" Charlie asked.

"But, you and I are both addicts. Don't you think that being around drugs would be a bad thing?"

"Nope. Look, another part of my training will be what I like to call 'crave management'. You'll learn to hold back your cravings."

"I've held them back for five years and broke now..." Reid muttered under his breath.

"You only did that because you thought your team betrayed you." She said absentmindedly, playing with the coffee mug in front of her. Reid's eyes were downcast as he thought back to what his team; no JJ and Hotch did to him. Every time he thought about it, it hurt; just knowing that they had so little trust in him was unnerving.

"You okay?" he heard Charlie ask. Just as she was about to grab his hand he moved it and stood up.

"I'm going to go take a shower." He said suddenly. She stood up too.

"I don't think that'd be a good idea, seeing as your training starts today."

"I never agreed to do this."

"Oh I'm sorry, Reid, do you want to help me with this?" She questioned sarcastically, impatience showing clearly on her face.

"Yes, anything to get me away from the BAU to get my priorities straight would be nice." He answered quietly. He was slightly shamed at the fact that he actually wanted to leave the BAU, but he needed a break. All the lies and trust issues had stressed him to the point of using, which he still wanted to do a little bit. He watched as Charlie walked away from him and into his bedroom.

"Whoa! Where are you going?" He yelped, self conscious as the fact that she was walking into his slightly messy room.

"You need some loose fitting clothes if you're going to bulk up a bit." His lips turned down into a frown, he hated physical activity. Sadly if that was the price of getting away from his team for a while he'd do it. Plus, as he ran statistics through his mind, a little physical activity never hurt anybody.

...

Alright, there's chapter 2. I may need a few suggestions on how to make Reid look like a drug dealer and what he should act like... Any helpful hints?


	3. Chapter 3: Bitchy Reid

Chapter 3 anyone? Were finally getting into angsty bitchy Reid! YAY, he is so much fun to write!

BTW I still own Charlie, tough luck Charlie lovers! And I don't own Criminal minds! DARN!

ALSO! This is before the fiasco of episode 2! It's kind of like a derailed version of what could have possibly happened in season 7.

...

Working with people you don't trust is like trying to dig a hole with a plastic spoon, infuriatingly difficult. It was Reid's first morning acting like he used to act when he was a druggy. Charlie hadn't allowed him to drink coffee; instead she gave him an extremely decaf tea. She said they had to make him look like himself still even though he was now 'fake using.' She also kept him up all night teaching him fighting moves so his body felt like absolute crap. He couldn't move one joint without being in pain, which also brought up the thought of what she went through for her training.

Reid walked through the bullpen with his shoulders more slumped and he stumbled a bit to add to the effect. His hands were shaking because of caffeine withdrawal, and his eyes had even darker circles around them from the lack of sleep.

"Hey pretty boy." Morgan greeted from Emily's desk as Reid walked by in his tired stupor.

"Morning." Reid mumbled in reply as he heavily sat down at his desk, his muscles aching in response.

"Whoa, long night?" He asked as Emily raised an eyebrow taking in his purposely dishevelled appearance. His hair was a mess (Charlie told him to shower than do nothing with it except run his fingers through it), his tie was slightly undone and his shirt was buttoned wrong. Emily and Morgan took note that his sleeves were down yet the cuffs were unbuttoned (again purposely done).

"Yeah, an extremely long night." He once again mumbled not noticing the concerned looks of his team mates.

"Are you having nightmares again, Reid?" Morgan asked who was suddenly in front of him. Reid hadn't noticed because he was too busy noticing the pain in his muscled.

"No, it's not that," Reid paused an idea suddenly formed in his head. Charlie told him he needed to be a little less Reid like so... "I had a friend over." Reid told them simply. His inner self smirking at his own brilliance.

"A friend, eh?" Emily inquired.

"Did this friend happen to be of the female variety?" Morgan chuckled, knowing Reid would most likely answer a definite no.

"That's for me to know, and you to not ever find out." Reid smirked and stood up to go make a call. Morgan's face was probably the most hilarious thing he had seen in a while, Emily's too for that matter. She wasn't the only one who could tell lies.

"Well that is just beyond odd, but I'm extremely proud of the kid. Do you think I'm rubbing off on him?" Morgan mused.

"Yeah let's hope not. But you're right about the part about that being really odd. Since when has Reid ever been that cocky?" She asked.

"No that wasn't him being cocky," Rossi said as he walked up behind them after listening to the whole conversation, "He was trying to mess with your minds."

"Should we be worried?" Emily thought out loud. If Reid was messing with people then that could be a cause for concern.

"I'm not sure." Rossi told them before heading off to his office. All the while he made a mental note to keep a close eye on Reid.

Later during that day Reid's little handshakes had started to get noticed. He heard heels to his right and realized someone was talking to him.

"What?" He snapped at whoever it was. The raging headache he had was begging for him to get some coffee while the sanity he had left was drowning itself in muscle aches.

"I was just asking if you were okay Spence." Jennifer, oh how he hated Jennifer lately. Charlie told him to channel that anger into being the little drug addicted bitch he used to be.

"I'm fine _Jennifer, _thank you so much for your concern of my well being." Reid sneered at her, which in turn caused Emily to turn her attention to Reid as well as Hotch and Rossi who were standing off to the side a ways.

"Sorry I was just asking." Jennifer told him and he could hear the hurt in her voice. In the sick, twisted, revenge filled part of his mind he felt good about that. The other part of him screamed "say sorry!" Sadly the vengeance seeking part of his mind shut the good part up.

"Like you asked about how I was feeling all those weeks when she," he gestured to Emily, "was supposedly dead. Oh and thanks for telling me about that, you're a super great friend!" Reid hissed sarcastically at a stunned Jennifer.

"Reid, enough!" Hotch ordered as he marched over to get in between the little fight.

"Why of course Hotch, I always trust your judgement in every sort of matter. Oh wait no I don't! Want to know why? Because you're a liar too!" Reid yelled. He was starting to attract a crowd. Morgan and Penelope had walked through the glass doors and were staring wide eyed at Reid. Suddenly Reid noticed a familiar face walking past the glass doors and toward Strauss' office. She gave him a signal and a look that said tone it down or get out.

"Reid that was something I did to protect the team and Prentiss. If you want to talk about this we can talk about this in my office. So I suggest you go there now or leave and cool off!" Hotch told him in the voice that would be considered as yelling without the raise in volume. Reid quickly collected his things with his shaky hands and left, accidentally shoving past Morgan and Penelope in the process of leaving.

"What the hell was that about?" Morgan asked walking across the bullpen, while other people who had been there went back to work.

"I... I don't know what I did." JJ muttered to herself.

"I'm talking to him when he gets back. You didn't do anything JJ." Hotch said and walked briskly to his office. Prentiss was thinking about how Reid's behaviour reminded her of something but she couldn't quite put her finger on. Rossi was thinking to himself how he noticed Reid's hands shaking. All the while Charlie was making her way to Strauss' office a small smile gracing her lips, Reid was one hell of an actor when he was pissed. She noticed he looked even more like the druggy he was playing.

Upon coming to the head agent's office Charlie steeled herself, she had memorized what she was going to say last night with Reid, and she could do this. She raised her fist and knocked twice.

"Come in." An authority's voice said from the other side. Charlie took a deep breath and pulled at her pencil skirt a little. She hated business suits, even if they did look great on her. She opened the door and walked straight to Agent Strauss' desk.

"Hello ma'am my name is Lieutenant Lillian Moscoe."

"You're General Reese Moscoe's daughter correct?" Strauss asked without looking up from the papers she was sorting on her desk.

"Yes I am, but I'm not here about me or my father. I'm actually here about Dr. Reid...?" Charlie told her slowly.

"Alright, I'm listening." Strauss said while setting her papers down on her desk.

"He has agreed to an undercover mission with my team..."

"He's a part of my bureau he shouldn't be allowed to make those decisions." She told Charlie.

"Well you see, my dad, I mean General Moscoe has made arrangements with the head of the FBI that should have reached you already."

"I have received nothing of the sort."

"Well that's awkward for me. Any way Reid has signed the contract and is going to be working with my undercover ops team in Las Vegas. I can't tell you what we're doing, hence the term undercover, but I will need your help." Charlie stood in the middle of the room twirling her fingers.

"And what must I do?" Strauss asked leaning forward in her chair.

"You are going to have to fake fire Reid so the team knows that he won't be coming back and that he's not on the good path of life at the moment."

"What exactly am I firing him for?"

"Oh right, you are going to find him doing drugs in the records room in exactly 2 weeks at 3:15pm." Charlie smiled sheepishly.

"Alright, this is probably going to be the most fun I've had in a while. Not that I want to, how did you put it again? 'Fake fire' Dr. Reid mind you, but I haven't done something interesting in this place in god knows how long. I'd love to help you Lieutenant. And no it's not because I'm close friends with your father." Strauss told her with a small smile gracing her lips.

"Alright! Great! Now I got to go talk to Reid because I just watched him have a fit in the middle of the bullpen! Later ma'am!" Charlie exclaimed as she rushed from the office. Then came running back in.

"Oops forgot, here's my number!" She placed a small slip of paper on the desk and then rushed back out once again.

...

Charlie found Reid back at his apartment. He was sitting at his table with a cup of coffee in front of him. He was still fuming, he hadn't ever let his anger out like that while sober and damn did it feel good. He really needed to show his feelings more, he decided.

"Hey, that was an impressive show today, but you might want to tone it down a little and build it up." Charlie commented casually as she slipped out of her heels.

"It felt really good." He told her, "I wish I had realized that yelling at people would feel this good when I was in high school or University. I don't think I'd have this much stress on my shoulders at all times."

"How lovely, but did you even listen to the plan? You know the one we talked about last night? About how you were going to build up the anger by making snide comments here and there?" Charlie asked sitting down across from him.

"Yes I did, but ugh! She was just being so nice! Like there was nothing wrong! She took me in for 10 weeks while I was crying and never told me the dead friend I was mourning was alive!" Reid snapped. Charlie's face remained impassive.

"You don't need to yell at me, what they did was six different shades of wrong but still it was for protection."

"Yeah they did a great job protecting me, they lost every bit of trust I had in them." With that said Reid stood up and walked to the couch, grabbed a book, sat down and started reading. He was trying to get rid of all the anger he felt towards them but it was so hard. His hands shook with the force he was gripping the book. Suddenly Charlie was beside him.

"Want to go punch something... Or shoot something?" She asked. He nodded and together they left his apartment to go find some way to let off some of Reid's anger.

...

Strauss might be a little not accurate but we hardly ever see her and I secretly think she has a sadistic side. Don't we all?


	4. Chapter 4: Used

Hotch hadn't expected Reid to skip out on the entire day of work. Actually he hadn't expected Reid to be that angry and hostile. Never in all his time working with the young agent had he ever seen him express that much hatred and anger at someone, especially a team mate. It was the next morning when Reid came marching through the bull pen did Hotch notice something was not just off about him, but also very disturbing. Yes he had noticed Reid was a complete mess yesterday but it was worse. Reid was wearing the old brown cardigan, his tie wasn't done up, his hair was slightly greasy, hanging in his face and he had his glasses on. In turn his glasses made his blood shot eyes stand out more, as well as the dark circles. The file in Hotch's hand slipped through his fingers and fell lamely to the floor.

Reid was trying to make it to his desk as quickly as possible, his eyes were stinging and he felt very gross. Charlie had refused to let him wash his hair and she dressed him that morning, talk about extremely awkward. He tried to tell her he didn't like how close she got to him and she would just ignore him and continue what she was doing. She was an odd person, but he knew he could trust her.

"Reid!" Hotch shouted across the bullpen. Reid's eyes snapped up from the floor and into the angry eyes of his boss.

"My office, now." Hotch ordered. Reid's shoulders slumped; he really wasn't in the mood to apologize to anyone right now, especially people he didn't trust! He shuffled his way into Hotch's office dreading it every step.

"Sit." He commanded and Reid did as he was asked. They were now facing each other from across the wide expanse of Hotch's desk.

"Yelling at colleagues for no specific reason is not okay," Hotch began and Reid was about to defend himself but Hotch held his hand up, "I realize you are hurt and angry that JJ, Emily and I hid the fact that Emily was alive from you, but that doesn't give you a reason to be disrespectful." Hotch told him. Reid however was busy looking at his hands, which were still shaking from the lack of caffeine, which he'd need soon to keep up appearances of him getting high.

"You will apologize to JJ and there will be no more outbursts like that in the office. Am I understood?" Reid had his head down still and hadn't answered, he was pretending to zone out of the conversation.

"Spencer Reid! Am I understood?" Hotch snapped.

"Yes sir." Reid said quietly and looked at Hotch with bloodshot eyes. It was easy to make them bloodshot, all Charlie had to do was but water drops in them and then let his eyes dry out by blowing a hair dryer into them. He had hated every minute of it.

"You may leave now." Reid quietly got up and made his way back to his desk. It angered him how his team mates were giving him wary looks. The only person he wasn't mad at was Morgan, yet he felt like he should be mad at him because he was mad at everyone else. He really just didn't want to be there. He slumped down into his desk chair once he got to his desk. He didn't even notice Morgan stand up and walk over to him.

"Hey kid." Reid looked up; he wasn't in the mood to talk about his problems. 'Please just go away, Morgan' Reid thought.

"What was all that yesterday?" Morgan asked timidly.

"Nothing." Reid answered quickly. He then picked up his mug and went to get coffee from the small kitchen. Morgan followed him mush to his displeasure.

"You yelling at Hotch and JJ weren't 'nothing' Reid."

"They deserved it." Reid muttered under his breath. Morgan was taken aback upon hearing it. He wasn't even sure Reid said those words.

"What did you just say?" Morgan questioned. Reid looked up at the older agent. He noticed that his eyes were drawn together and he was studying him.

"I said that they deserved it!" Reid emphasized, slamming his hand down on the table.

"Why would you say that?"

"It doesn't matter. I have to go apologize to Jennifer." Reid muttered and walked off the JJ's office where he faked a very heartfelt apology.

Hotch was watching as Reid walked to JJ's office. He knew exactly what was wrong with Reid yet he didn't want to admit it. He didn't even want to think of the possibility that Reid was using again. Sadly he was the team leader and he had to make assumptions like that. He would give Reid two weeks to get himself back together and if he didn't, Hotch would have to suspend him or worse.

...

Yeah I know, I haven't updated in forever and this is a short chapter, but next chapter is going to be two weeks later and if you read the chapters before this, which you have, you know what happens in two weeks! Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: The new team

By the time the first week of 'fake using' and Reid's training was over he was practically collapsed on the couch. Charlie on the other hand had more energy than Reid could comprehend. They were sitting side by side watching a star trek marathon, drinking coffee when her cell phone rang.

"Yep?" Charlie answered. Reid wasn't listening to the conversation; he was too busy being in pain from the sore muscles to notice anything. The pain in his muscles actually helped to make it look like he was truly using, especially the weakness in his arms. Although he was starting to get better at the hand to hand training Charlie was teaching him. It only took 15 seconds to drop him the last time they sparred, which in Reid's case was very good.

"Great, thanks, I'll see you guys in a few." She finished her conversation and turned to Reid, "It's time to meet my team." She told him happily.

"You're team? As in your brother who is also conveniently your captain?" Reid asked trying to crack his stiff neck.

"Yup, they're like my other family! So c'mon, get dressed and then we can go meet them!" She said jumping up. He tried to get up but his aching muscle complained making him groan. In the end Charlie had to pull him up.

The street lights illuminated the rusty pipes on the old apartments as they walked by. Reid had never been to this part of town before; it was a foreign place to him. They were coming upon a shady looking hole in the wall bar before Reid knew it. It was brick, it was old and it was called "The Old Helmsman" which Reid thought was strange.

When they walked in they were immediately met with the boisterous laughter of men and women from all sides. Reid was starting to feel even more uncomfortable than he already was.

"Hey Charlie!" A loud gruff voice called from across the room.

"STEVE!" Charlie shouted, overjoyed when she saw a huge man hulking toward her. They hugged when he reached her and he lifted her off the ground with the force of it. The man "Steve" was African American, he had long dread locks and he was huge. He was buff and tall at least 6"5 Reid's brain supplied. He was feeling really scrawny in comparison to that man. When he finally released Charlie and put her back on the ground he sized up Reid.

"Wow, you were right when you said we had a lot of work to do, c'mon the guys are this way." He told them and started to lead them through the crowd.

"Did he just say we?" Reid asked nervously.

"Yes, I can't do all your training by myself. Sorry I forgot to tell you." Reid's eyes just widened at the new information. He was going to die.

"Alright guys," Charlie exclaimed getting to the table that housed very strong looking men, "This is Dr. Spencer Reid, smartest guy I know. He's got an IQ of 18, can read 20 000 words per minute, has an eidetic memory and has PhDs in mathematics, chemistry and engineering as well as in psychology, sociology and philosophy." Charlie said to the men while Reid stood uncomfortable as they scrutinized him.

"Wow, a genius, are you sure you made the right choice though Char? He looks a little, well he looks extremely awkward." The man sitting at the head of the table said. Reid blushed after the man pointed out one of his flaws.

"Yeah seriously he's scrawnier than Danny was when he went through puberty." The tanned man that set next to the head laughed.

"Oh shut up, Danny had our mom's genes Aaron, and he's my twin, what did you expect." Charlie shot back. Reid's eyes widened, he didn't know Charlie had a twin.

"Anyway, Reid," She said finally addressing him, "The head of the table is my brother and captain, Jake Moscoe, the annoying guy on his right is Aaron Bajardo, he's from Vegas too, we grew up together, the burly guy who hugged me is Steve Jones, the broody guy is Adhey Cheasequah, he's a Cherokee descendent, and the wiry, slightly Asian kid is Chase Thompson, but we call him Ace." Charlie told him as she pulled out a chair to sit in, Reid followed suit.

Reid, after meeting Charlie's team was shocked at how family like it was. Almost like his team, well his team used to be. Ace was an expert with anything gun or explosive, his mother was Korean while his father was English, so he talked with a British accent. He was roughly six feet maybe a little shorter he had spiked black hair and looked far more white than Korean. Steve was a martial arts expert that could kick anyone's ass on that team, even Charlie's. He was originally from Chicago and he reminded Reid of Morgan a little. Except Steve was way darker, both his parents were from Africa and they moved to the USA when they had him. His parents are still alive and they live in Chicago. Adhey was extremely interesting; he was an expert in stealth and was very spiritual. Both his parents live on a reserve while he branched out and went to University in Colorado. He believed in all the old Cherokee legends and had a very good sense of self. Aaron Bajardo was from Spain but moved to Las Vegas Nevada when he was 6. His mother was dead and his father joined the air force after becoming an American citizen. That was where General Moscoe met him and then their kids became best friends. He was Jakes age which was 36.

Reid also found out some new information about Charlie's family. She had a twin brother name Danny Moscoe, and an older sister named Bobbi Moscoe, unlike Charlie her first name was actually a man's name. Charlie's mom was a nurse at Las Vegas general hospital and her father worked for the marines as just another soldier. When Charlie was 13 Reese Moscoe got promoted to having his own undercover stealth force team, he started grooming his son Jake who was the oldest to be the captain. All the kids were trained in fighting and tactics since they were born. After two years of University Jake became a part of his father's team. Bobbi was also considered to take the job but she took her mother's route and became a nurse, she then moved to San Francisco, got married and had two kids. Charlie also attended two years of University and then joined her father's team. Danny, who didn't want anything to do with being a marine, joined the Las Vegas police force.

Out of all the information that was given about them one thing stood out the most. When Charlie was 15 her mother died of a brain tumour, which caused their move to Maine. Once in Maine Charlie had started to party a lot and her brother did too. Jake became no fun and trained harder and Bobbi tried her best to ignore them all. A month after Charlie turned 16 she was kidnapped and the rest is history. Danny was actually the one who put Charlie in rehab after she relapsed the second time and .

As Spencer sat in bed trying to focus on reading but to distracted to try, his thoughts went back to what he and Charlie were planning. They were going to get him fired. He didn't want to be fired, but in the true sense of things he wasn't actually going to be fired. He was on an undercover mission that involved him looking like a drug addict and getting fired.

The getting fired part was a safety measure just in case anyone from their mission found out he was FBI. If they knew he'd been fired for drug possession and use they'd not be as suspicious as they would if they found out he was still working for feds.

The truth of everything was that he was nervous, he didn't want to see his team's disappointed faces as they thought he was using again. Although he still didn't trust anyone as much as he used to, and he truly despised Hotch and Jennifer. Emily was just hated; he still couldn't understand how she could do that to him. Reid's hands clenched the sheets over his body; he really couldn't wait to be out of there.

Yet then again the mission seemed terribly dangerous, like "you could die at any second" dangerous. But Charlie's team expressed their confidence that they could get him to act more like a confident kick ass marine. The only problem was he was going to have to learn how to be different and he hadn't been anybody but himself since he was born. Also he wasn't terribly good at making eye contact, or touching other people. If he really thought about it he would consider himself as very slightly autistic, but Charlie's confidence in him overwhelmed that. She was already teaching him how to act overly cocky and confident. He didn't like the way she made him talk though. She told him he'd have to talk slower and lazier, like he didn't really care about what he was saying. He also had to stand straighter, to his full height of 6'2 and he'd have to dress differently. He liked the way he dressed but Charlie insisted and had taken him out shopping, he shuddered as he remembered all the new clothes they bought.

Trying on the clothes had been embarrassing because Charlie asked two other shopping associates to join in and judge as well. When he walked out in the first outfit Charlie picked he wasn't sure what was going on. The two clerks were practically drooling over him.

"_You look so sexy!" Charlie exclaimed in awe and the two clerks just nodded in agreement._

"_I don't get it though, I'm just wearing dark jeans, a dark top and a light colored blazer, how is this any different than what everyone else wears?" He questioned._

"_First of all, nobody can pull that off like you, second it actually fits your body and third you look like a fucking runway model!" She told him and once again the clerks nodded dumbstruck._

By the end of their shopping spree Reid had gotten the two store clerks numbers as well as four others from different stores they went to. All the while Charlie smiled smugly at him and told him he needed to show off his sexy more.

Reid's eyes wandered to the closet where all his new clothes were. He couldn't believe that just by dressing differently more women had noticed him, maybe some men too if he thought about the homosexual guy working at Calvin Klein.

Finally Reid noticed the time on his clock that Reid 2 am, so he put his book on the bed side table, got comfy and turned out the light.

...

IM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN FOEVER! I just couldn't work up the will to write for a while because I couldn't put my thoughts into words. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. Oh and I had exams too which also made me put my writing on the back burner for a while. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Next time on Into the Darkness of the L.V Mob

Hotch stared at him in shock as Strauss said the three words.

"You are fired." She told him angrily. Reid just glared at her and grabbed the small vial of Dilaudid off her desk.

"Good, I hated it here anyway. Also this is mine, I paid off it and I am going to use it as much as I fucking want!" He shouted and inwardly cringed as he saw Hotch's eyes widen in shock. He didn't like the pity and disappointment rolling off him so he quickly exited the office to the waiting chaos in the bullpen.

Thanks for reading!

Love SpiderKate


	6. Chapter 6: High and Fired

"Are you ready?" Someone said extremely close to his face. Reid's eyes shot open and the first thing he noticed was Charlie sitting unnaturally close to him. He quickly scrambled back a safe distance away from her.

"Why are you so close to me!" He exclaimed in a slightly panicked frenzy.

"I'm waking you up, of course." She told him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Now as I asked before are you ready?"

"For Strauss to find me 'fake' shooting up in the records room? Not at all, I feel so nervous I could throw up." Reid shook his head and got out of bed. Charlie watched him with critical eyes the entire time.

"But it's not like you're actually going to be fired. Plus you'll be going back to the FBI once you're all done with the undercover mission." She said as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen. Today she was wearing plain jeans and a white T-shirt. Reid on the other hand was in sweats and a wife beater, his normal pjs. He stiffly got out of bed and followed her to the kitchen where he found a plate of waffles and some coffee waiting for him.

"You know how to make waffles? Wait since when do I have a waffle maker?" He wondered.

"I bought that waffle maker, and waffles are the only things I know how to cook without burning." She told him as she sat down across from him and took a waffle.

"So what's going to happen once I'm fired?"

"We're going to leave to Las Vegas. There is going to be a private plane waiting for us at the air port and then once were in Vegas we train you a crap load more and get you out dealing." She told him simply after chowing down on her second waffle.

"Um, Reid... time." Charlie said between bites. Reid sharply looked at the clock and noticed that he was going to be later than he had planned.

"Crap!" He exclaimed, jumping up to get dressed.

"Remember to look like a druggie!" She called after him.

As Reid was running out the door Charlie yelled after "Have a good day at work! Get into a bad fight and take drugs then get fired!"

...

Hotch had a bad feeling ever since he walked into the BAU bullpen. Not only was their youngest member late, he was later than he had been ever. It was 11:00am; he was always 15 minutes early, well that was before Emily came back. As of late he had been getting to work at 8:30-9:00 but not 11.

"Morgan, have you seen Reid?" Hotch asked Morgan as he walked through the bullpen with Penelope.

"No, is he alright?" Morgan says back casting an anxious look towards Reid's empty desk.

"I don't think so." Hotch said and just when Morgan was about to ask why, Reid shuffled through the glass doors. His messenger bag thrown lazily over his shoulder, his face tired and pale looking, dark circles around his eyes and his ever present brown, wool cardigan.

"Reid you're late." Hotch called out to him. Reid didn't even turn to look at him, he just continued to his desk. He quickly glanced at his watch, only 4 hours until he was fired. He was going to have to build up his frustrations over that period of time.

"REID!" Hotch yelled, stopping him in his tracks.

"Yes sir?" Reid asked quietly, not turning around to look at his superior. Hotch walked slowly toward the agent until he was standing right in front of him.

"Why are you late?" Hotch questioned, his voice laced with worry and anger mixed together. Emily and JJ had decided to walk into the bullpen at that point and were now watching the scene unfold.

"I... I um... Slept late?" Reid replied, he really didn't want to have to fight now, so he gave the best excuse his tired brain could come up with. Charlie had kept him up all night to try and finish off the dishevelled look he had going.

"You slept late? You seem to be doing that often." Reid finally looked up and levelled a glare at Hotch. His eyes boring right into his boss'.

"Yes I know, I think maybe I'm sick. Does that answer your question adequately?" He snapped and walked around to get to his desk. Hotch stood shocked, as did the rest of the team members, while Strauss had a knowing look on her face from behind the glass doors. She too was looking at the clock often.

"Reid this is not acceptable. What is wrong with you?" Morgan and Penelope shared knowing looks, they knew he had relapsed; they just didn't want to admit it. Neither did Hotch.

"I'm sick! Please just drop it!" Reid exclaimed, slamming a shaking hand down on his desk.

"Fine, but we will talk about this later." And with that said Hotch briskly walked to his office.

"Reid are you...?" Penelope tired to ask but got cut off by Reid.

"Yes I'm fine alright?" He exclaimed again.

"Alright..." She said quietly in a hurt voice which squeezed Reid's heart. He hated being hostile to her and Morgan but o]if he was going to continue with his act he had to be.

...

3:05pm, he had ten minutes. Ten minutes until he took out the very real vial of Dilaudid and the very real needle and "fake" shot up. Ten minutes until Strauss found him in the record room. Ten minutes until his life at the BAU was ultimately destroyed. Reid found himself starting to panic. Second thoughts were whirring around in his brain, but he knew it was too late to turn back. He had to be fired and he had to help Charlie, he had already made that promise.

Reid could tell everyone was scrutinizing him, especially Emily who was sitting across from him. Hotch had yet to call him into his office. It was at that moment when Jennifer and Hotch approached Emily at her desk and whispered in her ear. Reid knew that it would be the perfect opportunity for him to go ballistic.

"You're talking about me aren't you?" He asked loud enough for them to hear. When they didn't reply he yelled, "ARENT YOU?"

"Yes we are, because you aren't acting like yourself!" Jennifer yelled back. Reid internally winced; he hadn't thought he would make them that mad.

"Maybe because I _HATE_ all of you! Have you ever even thought of considering that?" He shouted standing up. He unconsciously grabbed his messenger bag at the same time.

"Hate us?" Jennifer asked in a quiet voice, Hotch and Emily were both stunned to silence.

"YES, HATE YOU! You fucking lied to me! TO US! And you think that just telling the truth and having Emily back would make it all better? It doesn't! Every day I'm fucking reminded of how you betrayed my trust! How you let me think Emily was DEAD! How you hurt me and just did nothing about it! Do you know how that feels? Do you know how it feels when you have such a lack of trust in your life that when you do finally trust someone you get your back stabbed? NO YOU DONT!" Reid yelled then as fast as he could he walked or more like jogged out of there to get to the records room, leaving the stunned faces of his colleagues behind him.

When Reid arrived in the records room he still had a few minutes left, and he let a few tears fall. He hadn't actually thought that he would yell at them like that. He was once again reminded of all the lack of trust between them. Reid slowly started to roll up his sleeve and he looked at his inner elbow which was littered with old track marks and the fake ones Charlie made with costume make up. He actually felt like he was using with all the pent up rage he had inside him. His hand once again reached into the hidden pocket inside his bag where he used to stash Dilaudid when he was using. He pulled out the vial and needle and started to fill it to where he used to have it when he had used for those weeks. He pulled out the tourniquet and tied it loosely around his arm, then he sat on an old stool and waited for Strauss to arrive.

Morgan and Penelope wandered into the bullpen to find JJ crying, Emily with a look of misery on her face and Hotch with a quiet worry surrounding him.

"What happened?" Morgan asked as he noticed the absence of their youngest member.

"Reid hates us." JJ sobbed, and Emily wrapped her arms around her friend in comfort.

"What?" Garcia questioned in a very confused manner.

"He noticed us talking about him and he went into a rage, he was just pouring out all of his feelings. The most prudent being his rage." Hotch told him quietly.

"Why would he do that?" Morgan wondered.

"He's using again, from what I can tell he's been using since Emily got back." Hotch cast a worried look around, he didn't want anyone over hearing.

"I thought so, I just didn't want to..." Morgan was interrupted by the glass doors slamming open.

"Aaron, my office now!" She shouted. The team looked at her shocked, but what they were more shocked to see was a certain young agent standing behind her swaying. To put it bluntly Reid looked high and Morgan noticed that his right sleeve was rolled up. Hotch noticed that too and quickly followed Strauss to her office.

Once inside Reid sat down on the couch in the corner and Hotch stayed standing.

"Do you know what I found your agent doing?" She asked as she pulled out a vial of Dilaudid and a used needle. Hotch didn't answer, he too shocked at the state his now high agent was in.

"Drugs are not allowed in the FBI, we do not tolerate it." Strauss continued and Reid stared at the floor, trying to continue with his act of being high. It was hard because he really didn't want to be fired but he had to be if he was going to go undercover. Hotch's head was bowed as he tried to process what was going on, his youngest agent, the baby of the team, a god damn genius, was about to be fired. Suddenly Reid spoke up.

"I'd like ta say... In my de-defence, thad thisss isss Hodches fault." Reid slurred. Hotch stared at him in shock and then Strauss said the words he dreaded hearing.

"Dr. Reid you are fired!" She told him in an eerily calm manner. Reid barley cringed at the words.

"You will give me your badge and gun and clean out your desk. Then you will leave and you will never get another government job again." She said coldly.

"But Erin, he's just, he..."Hotch finally spoke up but had no defending words for Reid.

"He's a drug addict Aaron. That is not allowed in the FBI or practically anywhere. He is fired; I will not make an exception to the rule just because he is a genius." She said and Reid suddenly stood up.

"I'll be taking those," He said quickly as he reached and grabbed the vial and needle off her desk, "I paid for 'em an they are mine. Also don worry 'bout my desk, throw all thad shit out, I don need it." He slurred again, still keeping up with his act.

"Reid..." Hotch started but Reid shut him up quickly.

"Go fuck yourself." HE said angrily and he stumbled out of the room.

In the bullpen Morgan, Garcia, JJ, Emily and Rossi were waiting anxiously for news about Reid. Suddenly Reid came stumbling out with an odd look on his face. He wandered past the team and grabbed his coat from his desk, also slipping a note for Morgan behind his computer. It had been something he thought about doing. If Morgan ever found the note which Reid knew he would eventually it would explain that everything he was doing was all a part of the plan. Hotch walked into the bullpen with an over serious look on his face.

"Reid!" Morgan called out, "What happened man? Are you alright?" He asked as he jogged up to his friend.

"I'm fucking fantastic, and by the way," Reid said casually as he leaned drunkenly toward Morgan, "You wond be seein' much of me anymore, I'm fired." Morgan's eyes widened.

"What?" He asked, behind him he could hear the muffled no from Garcia and more crying from JJ.

"I'm Fired!" Reid shouted then he stumbled away from Morgan and the stunned team. He slowly got into the elevator and just as the doors were about to close he heard Hotch.

"He's on drugs again, there was nothing I could do about it." Reid smirked as his act paid off and he was now free of the BAU. Now all he had to do was go undercover as a drug dealer.

As Reid walked out of the building he couldn't help but feel guilty for all the terrible things he said to his colleagues and friends. Even though the evil part of him was glad he did the good part was sobbing about how much pain he had caused them.

Suddenly he heard the loud noise of a motor to his right. He looked and saw Charlie driving he black Challenger beside him.

"Get in." Was all she had to say before he jumped in. He was about to start a whole new life with a new identity, and thankfully it was with someone he trusted.

...

FINALLY! That was the hardest chapter to write so far and it still had a crappy ending, but whatever, we'll be seeing sexy Reid soon! YAY! BTW if you've ever searched up pictures of Mathew Gray Gubler modeling you'll know where my inspiration is from!

Love SpiderKate


	7. Chapter 7: Its been 5 months?

Sorry I'm so late!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of the characters in this chapter, well except the dead chicks but they're irrelevant.

...

"Aaron, you haven't accepted any of the applicants." Strauss told him as she stood in front of his desk, arms crossed with a look of slight boredom on her face.

"I know ma'am, but none of them are... They aren't..." Hotch fumbled for words.

"They aren't Dr. Reid," Strauss said, finishing what he was trying to say, "Aaron it has been five months. You haven't heard from him, he hasn't called, he is gone. The sooner you and your team can accept that, the sooner you can all move on." With that being said Strauss walked briskly out of the office, he eyes quickly scanning the empty desk of the ex agent.

Hotch sighed and sank lower into his chair, Strauss was right. It had been five months since Reid left. Correction since Reid was fired for drug use, because of him and JJ. He felt extreme guilt, a guilt that burned through his body one cell at a time. The team had grown increasingly apart since he left. That kid was like the glue that stuck the team together, he was the younger brother, the best friend and when Gideon was still among them the surrogate son. Without Reid it was like the team forgot who they were. It didn't help that Reid literally dropped from the face of the earth about three months back. It was like one minute he was there the next, he wasn't. No credit card transactions, no cell phone, no arrests, no nothing. Reid had disappeared.

...

"Hey mama." Morgan greeted flirtatiously as he walked into Garcia's office. For the last three months the two of them would get together every day and search for Reid.

"I haven't found anything hot stuff." She quickly replied with a frown on her usually bright and happy face. Morgan sighed and put a comforting hand around Penelope.

"We do however have a new extremely creepy case I get to introduce you all to." She mentioned almost casually. Morgan let another sigh go, why was there so many psychopaths on the earth?

"I'll gather the team." At that Morgan left Garcia's lair and walked toward the bullpen to get the rest of the team. It consisted of Morgan, Garcia, JJ, Hotch, Rossi and Prentiss seeing how Reid was fired 5 months before and Hotch wasn't hiring. He could still remember how Reid looked the last time he saw him. He was a wreck.

"_Reid, open this door right now!" Morgan yelled pounding the door in hope that it would make Reid move faster. _

"_Coming."The lazy response was heard then immediately after the door opened to reveal a completely pale and sickly looking genius. It broke Morgan's heart to see him that way. He was one of the people who helped Reid through his recovery the first time; he didn't want to do it again. He could remember the constant shaking and vomiting, the anger he had, the nightmares and most of all the heart wrenching sobs and pleas for someone to kill him. He didn't ever want to see Reid like that ever again, and yet here he was in the same position as last time._

"_Did you want something?" Reid slowly asked as if it hurt to form words._

"_Yeah, I want to help you get better kid." Morgan answered forcefully. Reid rolled his eyes, literally rolled his eyes, something completely out of character for him._

"_What if I don't want to be better? I'm perfectly happy the way I am right now, thanks Morgan." He then attempted to slam the door but Morgan blocked it._

"_No you do want to be better; you just don't know it yet. Come on Reid! You are my best friend, you're practically my little brother, let me help you!" He yelled, his frustration shown evidently on his face._

"_Look, if you really want to help me, leave me alone. I don't want to be off this stuff! I can finally forget! So please just forget about me!" Reid yelled right back, leaving Morgan shocked and hurt. The hurt just ended up bringing out his anger._

"_FINE, if that's what you want? THEN FINE! Goodbye Reid." Morgan angrily stomped away, and heard the door to Reid's apartment squeak close._

He blamed himself. How could he not? He practically sent Reid away. The last time Penelope got a hit on him was when he was in Arizona. For all Morgan knew Spencer could be in Japan by now! Garcia cried a lot, only Morgan knew about it. She would sometimes call him in the middle of the night for comfort; most times he would have to go to her house. Kevin was worried because he couldn't give her the reassurance she needed and it was starting to hurt their relationship, all of that because it was Morgan's fault.

As Morgan finally reached the bullpen, JJ and Emily were locked in a conversation and Rossi was idly standing by with a coffee in his hand.

"Hey, we have a case." He called, gaining the attention of the three. JJ quickly walked off to grab Hotch and the rest went to the conference room to wait.

Once they were all seated and ready Penelope bustled in and handed each of them an iPad. She then turned on the screen and pictures of lovely dead bodies filled the room. The first person she pulled up was a blond woman who was tall and thin.

"This is Christina Davis, she was found in a back alley way in Las Vegas, she was drugged by an unknown substance, raped and then shot once in the heart and once in the head." Garcia told the team as she cringed with every word.

"Christina Davis was also a prostitute. Now this is Jenny Hastings, she was found in another back ally, she was drugged raped then killed, as was Katie Torrington, Mina Dupree and Ciara Wild." Garcia said showing pictures of three other women all with blond hair and tall, slim bodies.

"He kills them execution style, he likes it close and personal." Rossi mused.

"He also drugs them; he's probably weak, maybe skinny so he wouldn't be able to hold a woman down." Morgan added.

"He also raped them which suggests he's a sexual sadist." JJ said, adding her two cents.

"Yes, yes we know, he is a sick bad guy," Garcia said, "But please discuss this somewhere else, this case makes me squeamish." She looked down sadly. Reid could be in Vegas.

"We leave in 20; we'll discuss the rest on the plane." Hotch ordered the team then got up from his spot to go back to his office. The team followed his lead.

Morgan somehow ended up meandering through the bullpen and as always stopped at Spencer's desk. He missed the kid so much; it was like losing a family member. It was losing a family member. They lost an important part of their team dynamic. They don't work right together without him, everyone noticed that.

Morgan swiped his hand across the desk and could feel the dust build up on its surface. Suddenly, something caught his attention. It was a small piece of dust covered paper tucked discretely behind the computer. He quickly pried it free and the first thing he noticed was it said his name on it in Reid's fast handwriting. The second thing he noticed were the two words underneath it _"Only Morgan"_. Thoughts were whirling around his head as Morgan took the note to his office. If Reid only wanted him to read it then he would.

Sitting down in his desk Morgan noticed his hands were shaking. He was nervous to read the note. Extremely nervous, but he wasn't sure why. What if it was a suicide note? Or he was going to tell Morgan some huge secret? Or Reid was actually a serial killer the entire time! _Calm down, it's obviously something important, read it!_ Morgan thought to himself and with that being said he unfolded the note and started to read.

_Dear Morgan,_

_I'm sorry for acting the way I was acting. Trust me I don't hate you, you're the best friend I have ever had. Probably the only best friend I have ever had. But this is important and I have to do it, so trust me. I know this is vague (I am a genius after all) but you have to have faith in me. I am sorry I cannot give you a better explanation than this, but I hope you'll understand. Also please do not tell anyone what I have written to you in this note; I cannot have any more people than you knowing._

_Sincerely, Reid_

Morgan scanned his eyes over the page four more times just to make sure he was reading it right. Reid had written him a cryptic letter that was about something he was doing? What on earth could Reid be doing that would involve drugs? Unless Reid wasn't doing drugs and it was all a giant hoax. Morgan's brain was racing trying to supply answers for the mind boggling questions the letter had left him with. Suddenly Prentiss banged on his door.

"C'mon Morgan it's time to go!" Morgan shoved the letter into his pocket, grabbed his go bag from under his desk and jogged to catch the elevator with the team. He now had more questions than answers about what Spencer was up to, but he was going to find out.

...

I know! IM SO SORRY! I had no desire to write forever and finally this whole thing came to me in an epic dream! Thank god for dreams! I promise I will try to do better with the updates, and I know, huge time skip, sorry but I was planning on flashbacks! So I hope you enjoyed and Spencer's sexy chapter is coming up next!

~Love SpiderKate


	8. Chapter 8: Reid 2 point 0

He always won. No matter what anyone would try, he always won. Poker was his weapon against them and they hated it. He was an arrogant son of a bitch that deserved a good hit to the head. In his defence though, he was excellent at his job. He moved along the drug dealing ranks faster than anyone could ever imagine, he was one of the guards now. He protected the boss, with his little bitch, who isn't a prostitute. Most of the men found that out the hard way.

Lily Charleston watched the intense poker game from the bar. He was counting cards again and none of the men he was playing against even realized. She sighed as he won another round and an arrogant smile donned his gorgeous face. He had turned into an amazing drug dealer and guard. All that training from those five months paid off.

"_UGH!" Spencer cried as his body slammed into the mat again. Steve was not going easy on him and had almost broken one of his ribs._

"_C'mon skinny boy, get it together, I taught you how to block every punch I throw and you still can't block them!" Steve exclaimed in a frustrated manor._

"_Don't you think you're pushing him just a little bit, Steve?" Jake asked as he calmly walked into the ring and helped Spencer from the floor. He was panting hard; the past month had taken a lot out of him. What with the training, the "dealing" and being away from _his_ team, he was starting to wear himself out._

"_Hey, the runt should know this, we have been teaching him everything we were taught." Steve shot back._

"_Yeah but he isn't getting it in the three year process you guys had, or in Jake's and mine's case, our childhood." Charlie added as she went to Spencer's other side and looped his arm around her shoulder. Jake and Charlie, now holding up an exhausted Spencer, both levelled a glare at the tall man._

"_Alright fine, he can take the rest of the week off and practice his shooting." Steve finally exalted. _

"_Yeah and maybe he can figure out a way to get that pesky hacker off his trail!" Aaron added. He was seated at his computer adding onto the new identity for Spencer._

"_She won't stop until she finds me." Spencer gasped out in a desperate attempt to say something. Charlie cast a concerned look at him and she noticed he was slowly losing his battle to sleep._

"_Spencer, let's go back to the apartment, you need sleep." She told him simply as her and Jake started to lead him out to Charlie's car._

It seemed she always lost track of her thought when she watched him play poker. It was intriguing the way he would stare down the cards, how he'd look right through his opponent's moves, and especially how if one looked closely enough they could see his calculations in his eyes.

"How the hell do you always win?" Dmitri finally exclaimed, slamming his chair to the ground in the process.

"It's because he's a better player than you." Lily called from the bar where she sat. Then she gracefully stood up and walked over to where her partner sat, winning poker games.

"If you don't like losing your money, Dmitri, you can always leave, the door's that way." Gray said as a lazy smile graced his features and he jerked his thumb in the direction of the door.

"Go to hell." Was all he muttered as he gathered his stuff and left the table to get a drink.

"Anyone want another round?" Gray asked, the rest of the men shook their heads and pushed their chairs from the table.

"You've gotten more ass hole-ish." Lily whispered in his ear. All Gray did was raise his shoulders in a shrug.

"It helps us get by, doesn't it?" He pushed his chair from the table and got up, "Shouldn't you call Chris for more stock?" He asked in code. It actually meant, 'shouldn't you call your brother, Danny, and ask what the police have?'

"Yeah I will. I'll be back in a few." And with that Lily left the quiet room that occupied the boss' guards.

"So Gray, how exactly did you end up meeting Charleston again?" One of the men, Johnny, asked. Gray smirked as his eidetic memory went over how she apologized for getting him kidnapped and poisoned by crazy serial killers when they first met. It was in that hospital room and Morgan had been listening.

"Well, we met through the business. We're all ex druggies of some sort. She used to deal to me, she helped me get clean and stay that way and she offered me a job. The end." Gray told them shrugging off the story like it was nothing.

"But she is so damn sexy."

"And she is so damn unavailable." Lily sneered as she came up behind the man who said that, scaring him off his bar stool in the process. All the other men laughed and teased him; Gray and Lily were the only ones who did not.

Gray could immediately tell something was wrong from the look on Lily's face. He did have years of profiling under his belt. She quickly motioned for him to leave with her.

"Sorry boys, it looks like we need to head out." Lily told the immature men.

"And thanks for your money." Gray added as they left the room and walked through the dingy hallway leading to the elevator.

"What's going on?" Reid asked as the elevator doors closed.

"I'll tell you in the car." Charlie answered. The small ding of the elevator alerted them that they were in the parking garage. The briskly walked to the new car Charlie had for the 'drug dealing' occasion. It was Aaron's but he lent it to her. A 1973 Nova SS, dark green, she had a thing for muscle cars.

"So what happened?" Reid asked as they drove out of the parking lot and onto the bright streets of Las Vegas.

"I called Danny and he told me there have been some rather suspicious killings. He also told me there were unknown concoctions of drugs in their systems. Like the stuff that Dmitri and Darius have been testing." She said. He looked at her suspiciously.

"And...?"

"And the chief called in the BAU, your team more specifically." Reid tensed and his cool demeanour completely drained out of him. He had turned back into genius, weak and miserable Spencer Reid. Not the infamous dealer and guard Reid Gray, but Spencer Reid, the kid with the IQ of 187, the eidetic memory, the reading 20 000 words per minute, and the trust issues.

"No, no, no, no no no no no! Crap, this is all going to go to hell, they are, oh crap, what are we going to do? If they recognize me? That could ruin the entire facade we have built! Charlie, we need to do something! I am not able to... OW!" Charlie cut him off with a rather hard punch to the arm.

"Shut it, Spence, we just won't let it come to that. They won't get anywhere near you and we'll make sure your face is covered most of the time alright? Plus you look different than you did five months ago." Charlie assured him. It was true though, he did look different, very different. He had grown some stubble on his chin; he wore designer clothing, jeans that fitted his model-like body and shirts that complimented his look. He kept his hair short but he styled it differently and his posture and personality changed. He was no longer the small, skinny, slumped over awkward guy who stuttered when talking. He now had muscle definition and could take down a guy twice his size. He could charm any girl he came across. He also never stuttered and had a lazy yet sexy way of speaking. Dr. Reid had truly left the building.

"Are you sure?" Reid asked. He nervously wrung his hands together while he waited for her answer.

"Yes, plus, you'll look good in a fedora." Charlie smiled as she drove them back to their penthouse apartment.

...

Unbeknownst to the two young undercover agents, the BAU agents were getting off their plane and getting into their provided SUVs. Each one of them were wondering the same thing, would they see Spencer Reid? They would probably see him, but they probably won't recognize him.

Hotch, JJ and Emily were all still feeling extremely guilty. They felt as if they pushed him to do drugs, to destroy his career. Morgan was angry at everything but, from that note of Reid's he found he was relieved in an odd way. It was like Reid had told him that he was fine, Morgan truly wanted to believe it but seeing as the way Reid treated him it was hard. Then again there was always an internal debate going on inside Morgan's mind.

Rossi however was still sceptical. He didn't believe that Reid was ever on drugs, he just needed to figure out why Reid would pretend. Of course Rossi would never tell anyone that he had other suspicions about what Spencer was truly up to. He liked for the others to figure it out for themselves.

As the black SUV holding the agents sat at the intersection waiting to turn to get to the police station a dark green car drove by. It caught the attention of everyone in the silent car due to the loudness of the motor. Morgan looked out the passenger window and noticed the car was an old Nova, an early 70's model perhaps? The windows were tinted so no one could see in but the agents were pretty sure that whoever owned the car was not someone to be messed with.

...

As Charlie drove though the intersection Reid's eyes wandered to the black SUV waiting to turn, not thinking much of it. He remembered when he would sit in one of those and joke with the team. He really did miss them sometimes, even though he said all those terrible things.

...

I was slightly on an "I don't want to write" Hiatus, sorry for the random drop of this story. Good news is I am back on track, I hope and I'm not going over two weeks in my update times, I promise! Cause it's been like 5.

KAY, sorry again, and hope you enjoyed!

~Love SpiderKate


	9. Chapter 9: Meet Ralf

The police station looked the same as every time they had come for a case. The coffee was still bad, cops were still bustling around and everyone was not entirely happy to see them.

Hotch led the team into the building to the conference room set up for them. A young beat cop leading the leader along the way.

"So you guys can use this room and if you need anything you can ask me." Danny said as the FBI entered the room and started to set up. Morgan noticed something oddly familiar about him, as did Rossi.

"Hey wait." Morgan called out to stop the officer from leaving.

"Yeah?" He asked in a quiet voice.

"Do we know you or something? You look really familiar." Morgan told him and Rossi agreed, scrutinizing the man's face.

"Oh, um, you worked with my sister on a case about eight or nine months ago. Her name is Charlie Moscoe." He told them once again in a quiet voice. The team stopped moving and all turned to face him, Reid had a connection to Charlie. Charlie reminded them of the member they couldn't save.

"You two look very alike." Emily commented. Although even though they looked alike, their personalities were completely different. He was quiet and thoughtful, she was loud and impulsive. He loved to read books and watch intelligent television shows, while she loved movies and smut. They were the most opposite twins.

"Um yeah, were identical twins, well even though technically were not completely identical seeing as I'm a guy and she's a girl. But still I get told that we look really alike all the time, but we aren't all that alike in personality." He told them with a small smile. Then he left the room so they could finish setting up.

Once far enough away from the room he pulled out his cell phone and clicked the number 6 on speed dial.

"Hello?" Charlie's tired voice muttered.

"It's me, the feds are here and they know that I'm your twin, so try to stay out of the spotlight or you'll get made." Danny said quickly then he heard a muffled voice on the other side.

"Reid says that you should try not to draw much attention to yourself, I know you don't already but just in case..."

"Will do sis, be careful."

"Don't count on it, love you." Charlie answered. Danny smiled.

"Love you too." Then he hung up and went back to his desk.

Hotch stared at the case file, willing himself to try to make sense of his thoughts. Half of which were on trying to make a profile, the other half thought about Spencer Reid. Would they see him? Maybe. Reid would possibly run back home, it was a part of the profile Hotch had made about the young genius when he left.

"Hey Hotch." Morgan called from across the room, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?" He said and got up from his hunched position at the table. The police Chief was standing near a whiteboard that had pictures attached to it.

"Alright, these are the dealers from the boss all the way down to the runners. This is all the information the drug crimes unit has on Jack Ralf and his associations and or employees." Chief Berk said as he addressed the whiteboard. The BAU watched carefully and looked over the few pictures and sketches they had.

...

"That hat looks good on you." Charlie told him as he looked himself over in the mirror. Since Reid's old team was in town they'd have to take extra measures and conceal their faces even more.

"Thanks and the sun glasses?" Reid asked referring to the hypnotically reflective aviators he had on.

"They're fine. We should probably get going, Ralf is expecting us." Reid nodded and followed Charlie as she made her way out of their apartment.

...

"And last but not least we have Ralf's four guards. The brothers and the couple. These two fellows who we actually have sketches for are Dmitri Roman and Darius Roman, they are related by blood and have been around for as long as the boss has. The two we don't have sketches for are new; they just recently came on the scene. They worked their way up the food chain faster than anyone expected and became guards, extremely loyal guards. The woman is Lily Charleston, she used to be a prostitute from what our sources tell us and she would sell a whole rainbow of drugs on the side. Then there is Reid," The team flinched slightly at the name knowing it was what they used to refer to Spencer as, "Gray, one source tells us that he is an ex addict who started dealing after Charleston found him, she helped him work his way up the food chain the two have been an inseparable team ever since."

"So which team should we be more concerned about?" Morgan asked knowing that the killer in their case was working with a partner who had lab and or drug smarts.

"I'd say the Roman's but Charleston and Reid have racked up a few bodies as well, their killing method is one shot to the head, one to the heart. Our ME even said that some of the bullets went through the bodies at the exact same time."

"So it's safe to assume that they each carry two guns." Hotch muttered. The rest of the team nodded as well.

"So if you knew that it was drug dealers from Ralf's mob that were doing the killings, why did you call us in?" Emily wondered. Chief Berk turned her way.

"Because I need your help to tell me who's who, as in who is a dealer, who is a guard and who the killer is. Your team is the best at reading behaviour and for this case I need that." Berk told them honestly.

"Do we know where they all hang out?" Morgan asked, wanting to find the killers and then get some leads on Reid. He knew that maybe if he talked to Diana Reid...

"Yeah, some new age place called the Ace of Clubs (1)."

"Alright. Morgan, you Prentiss and I will head there, JJ and Rossi stay here and go over the case file and crime scene photos. Also if you have the chance go talk to the ME in person, sometimes they leave their opinions out of their reports." Hotch ordered. Everyone nodded and set about their business.

As Morgan, Hotch and Prentiss left the police station Morgan checked his watch. 10:45pm it read, they'd only been in Vegas over 4 hours and they were already one step closer to finding the killers, what with the large suspect pool. Morgan really wanted to find Reid and find out what the hell was going on with him. The sooner the case was over the better.

...

Lily Charleston and Reid Gray sauntered into the Ace of Clubs with an air of confidence that nobody wanted to mess with. They were a power couple that had a dangerous reputation. Charleston turned the heads of many men as she walked past and occasionally some women. Gray turned the heads of every female in the room, and occasionally some men. Although every person there knew not to mess with one or the other because they would probably get beat to shit immediately after.

As they made their way to the counter they pulled out their "security passes" or in other words their rings that signified they were guards for Ralf.

"Open the door." Gray said as he and Charleston flashed their rings to the bar tender. He nodded and led them behind the bar to a door hidden near one of the large shelves holding liquor. He pressed a button hidden under a bottle of Vodka and the door opened with a smooth sounding whoosh. Charleston and Gray made their way through and slipped the tender a 50.

"What do you think this is about?" Charleston asked. Gray looked down at her from under his reflective sun glasses (yes he was wearing them at night, it was a protective measure and they made him look like sex so why not?) and rolled his eyes.

"You amaze me at how unobservant you are sometimes, it's about the murders." Gray told her with a lazy smirk. She returned his gaze with a glare and smacked him in the arm. A muffled 'ouch' echoed through the corridor which they were walking through.

"Don't be a smart ass with me." She hissed as they approached the door that housed the boss' hidden office. Upon arrival Charleston knocked twice, waited, then knocked three more times. The door creaked open revealing Dmitri. Ralf was sitting speculatively in his chair watching them enter. Darius was off to the side with an over dramatized serious face on.

"Thanks for coming." Ralf exclaimed as he stood up. Dmitri walked over to his place beside Darius and Charleston and Gray walked to the other side of the brothers. They now stood in front of the boss' desk, Gray, then Charleston, Dmitri then Darius.

"I have gathered you all here for one specific reason." Charleston and Gray continued staring straight at the Boss while Dmitri and Darius looked off to the side then focused back on him.

"The FBI, well the BAU, have decided to make a presence in my town. Usually this wouldn't bother me but this time there's some murders being committed by someone who has MY DRUGS!" He yelled the last part even though his voice was steadily increasing the entire time. The four guards flinched slightly.

"You four are my most trusted assets. You will find out who is killing these whores and deal with them appropriately." Ralf deadpanned. Darius slowly raised his hand.

"Yes Darius? This isn't elementary school; you don't need to raise your damn hand." Charleston chuckled under her breath and Gray elbowed her in the ribs to shut her up.

"Quick death or punishment?" Darius asked.

"Punishment, I want this idiot to know that he should never have done that and should have never been born!" Once again the four guards flinched at his raised voice. Jack Ralf was not one to be tampered with. He would kill you the instant you did something wrong.

"Yes sir." They all said at once.

...

"It's very..."

"Loud." Hotch said, finishing Prentiss's statement. Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss arrived at the Ace of Clubs to find it to be a loud and large raving club. There was pounding music, flashing lights and inappropriate dancing that looked like sex on the dance floor.

"So where should we start?" Morgan asked, looking around he noticed that the club had three levels; the top two looked like they had tables and seats.

"We'll start at the bar. And let's stick together; it would be a pain trying to find each other again in this mass crowd." Hotch said and they made their way over to the bar.

The bar tender who let Charleston and Gray into the back noticed the new comers. He had never seen anyone that looked quite like them and immediately knew they were some type law enforcement. The boss had taught him to spot a cop at anytime anywhere, he was a gate keeper to one of his offices after all.

"Excuse me; we need to ask you some questions." Hotch shouted over the boom of the bass and flashed his badge. The bar tender nodded and as discretely as he could he pressed a button under the bar, alerting the boss that feds were in the house.

...

A white flashing light suddenly lit up the small office as Charleston, Gray, Dmitri and Darius started to leave.

"Cops." Dmitri muttered under his breath. Gray however froze mid step. He had a bad feeling that it wasn't cops that had made the gate keeper alert the boss. His team was here, or at least a small portion of them were.

"Reid." Charleston muttered under her breath and grabbed his arm. "He's going to ask us to cause a distraction, you know, it's our turn." That was true, the last time cops had made an appearance the brothers took care of running interference.

"I know, but if it's them..." He mumbled but before Charleston had a chance to reassure him about anything the boss cut in.

"What are you two whispering about?" He exclaimed.

"Just our distraction plan sir." Charleston told him coldly.

"Well then you better get going so these two idiots can escort me out of here safely." Ralf leered. The brothers smirked, knowing Charleston hated it when she was ordered around. All she did though was grab Gray's hand and lead him out the door. As they were walking through the hallway they decided their plan.

"So when we leave the door, make a run for the upper level and go down the ladder and I'll use the back, we will meet up in the van in the parking garage on the next building over. If anything goes wrong press the panic button on your bike and it will alert mine. I'm not leaving you behind babe." Charleston said, laying out the plan. Gray nodded and prepared himself to race out the door in front of him. He knew that running up the stairs might pose a challenge. He also knew he'd have to ditch the fedora somewhere so he could get the motorcycle helmet on.

"Ready?" She asked as her hand hovered over the button that opened the door.

"Definitely." He answered and she punched the button down, opening the hidden door.

...

"You're sure you haven't seen anyone, or met anyone matching their descriptions?" Emily asked, sighing as the man shook his head, she had long since decided he was in Ralf's pocket and was not going to give up any information.

Suddenly a section of the wall to their right opened revealing two figures. Morgan noticed first and saw a tall man and a tall, yet shorter than the man, woman walk out from the wall.

"Hotch..."

"I see them." Hotch slowly lowered his hand to his gun, knowing whoever they were, that they weren't good news. He had a feeling they were the "couple" as Chief Berk had dubbed them. The tall man had extremely reflective glasses on and when he turned their way; all that the agents saw were their own reflections. Then they saw the woman mouth something and they separated.

The woman leaped over the bar and shoved her way into the crowd as the man slid under it then dove into the crowd as well just the opposite way.

"Prentiss take the woman! Morgan and I got the man!" Hotch yelled. Prentiss immediately started her chase, as did Hotch and Morgan. They weaved their way through the throng of people until they noticed the man running up the stairs to the second level.

"FBI MOVE!" Morgan shouted at people and he shoved and pushed his way through and Hotch followed behind. As they finally reached the top of the stairs the mystery man was making his way through a window. Hotch and Morgan quickly followed suit and found themselves on a small terrace and noticed that the man had already climbed down the ladder that was attached.

...

Reid was shocked when he saw that it was Morgan Hotch and Prentiss standing at the bar. He stood for a moment profiling them until Charlie told him to go so he went. He dived under the bar and ran onto the dance floor. He twisted and turned out of the way of people, finding a small path to make his way to the upper level. Once halfway up the stairs he could see Hotch and Morgan following him. He ran faster and started to push people out of the way, knocking them down.

When he finally made it outside he didn't even waste time on climbing safely down the ladder, he slid. At the bottom, he noticed Hotch and Morgan had made it outside, so he quickly hid behind a dumpster and waited for the opportune moment to run to the black motorcycle Aaron and Jake had given him. He had a feeling he might not wait all that long, knowing they'd split up. But he knew, better safe than sorry.

As Reid crouched down he thought back to when he first saw them, they looked so distant from each other. Maybe his leaving did more damage than he intended. He thought about JJ, suddenly feeling sorry for all the harsh things he said, wondering how she was doing.

He quickly shook himself from his thoughts as he heard them talking.

"Hotch, we're going to need to split up." Morgan yelled.

"I know, you go right, I'll go left." Hotch ordered and they split up. Damn it Reid thought, he was going to have to deal with Morgan because his bike was in that general direction.

...

Yes that is definitely the club from Smallville, which I don't think I own.

Anyway, things are getting interesting now aren't they, it will probably be like this the rest of the story. And yes I did say two weeks but I suck and ya'll can say it too. I just feel down when I don't get reviews, cause then I doubt myself but I love this idea so much! Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoyed and don't hate me for updating so late. R&R!

~Love SpiderKate


	10. Chapter 10: Head shot

His motor cycle was parked behind a rather large dumpster and Reid was 99 percent sure that Morgan wouldn't notice it. That didn't mean that Morgan wouldn't notice him. Reid decided his only shot was to make a break for the dumpster. Quietly sneaking out from his hidden corner, Reid slowly approached the direction Morgan had run off to. He was careful to try and conceal the sounds his footfalls were making. It was only a few yards to his motor cycle when he saw Morgan walking in his direction. His two thoughts were to dive behind the small metal garbage can which would never hide him or to face him and fight. His brain worked faster than normal people's so he thought over his two plans of action very quickly, sadly it wasn't quick enough for Morgan noticed him.

"FBI!" Morgan yelled. Reid immediately started and looked up from his muddled thoughts to see his best friend running at him with his gun cocked.

"Shit, guess I have to go with plan B." Reid muttered. As Morgan neared him, Reid ran straight at him. He knew Morgan was going to shoot so he dive rolled to the right, out of the way of the bullet that had been fired at him. Immediately he got his footing and whipped out his gun from the waist band of his pants. Morgan noticed the glint of gun metal and readied himself to fire; sadly he was too slow for Reid had already shot his gun.

Morgan grunted as his back slammed into the pavement, his right shoulder was bleeding, the bullet had made a through and through. Sadly though, the man had shot him through his right arm, the one which he is more accurate at shooting with. Even worse was the fact that his gun had skittered away when he went down. He looked up to see the man running toward him and then the man kicked his gun even further away from him.

"What the hell man?" Morgan yelled out without thinking. Thankfully the man ignored him and walked toward a large dumpster.

"You can go to prison for this! You just assaulted a federal officer!" Morgan yelled again, trying to get a reaction from the man and partially stalling him until Hotch arrived, knowing that he had probably heard the gun shots. Morgan then noticed the man pushing a sleek back motor cycle from behind the dumpster. His head turned in Morgan's direction as he was about to put on the helmet.

"Listen idiot, I know I just assaulted a Fed, I'm not stupid. But you still have to catch me." He said in an annoyed yet lazy voice. Although something seemed off to Morgan, like he should know the voice, it had sounded so familiar. Sadly before he could ponder it anymore the engine on the bike roared to life interrupting Morgan's thought process.

The man climbed on his bike and gave Morgan a two finger salute before revving the engine and driving off. Morgan swore until he heard Hotch running up and saw the older man cock his gun. He shot once and missed but his second shot was straight into the back of the man's head. The man's bike swerved and hit a metal garbage can successfully flipping the man off it. He tumbled forward and hit the ground shoulder first; Morgan could have sworn he heard a popping noise. The rest of his body hit the ground and anyone could clearly hear the crunching of bones. When the man finally stopped rolling he came to a halt in an awkward position on his stomach with one arm under and across his battered body.

"Nice shot Hotch." Morgan commented as said man pulled him off the ground.

"You okay?" He asked looking concerned over his friend's shoulder.

"This? It's just a flesh wound." Morgan answered as the two federal agents walked toward the dead body of the motor cyclist. Upon reaching it, Hotch bent down and checked for a pulse on his wrist, after a minute he found none.

"Dead." Hotch said, slightly unnerved at how he had killed the man.

"Well why don't we see who..." But Morgan was cut off by an agonized scream of 'no'. Both agents turned to see the woman on a similar bike. She immediately whipped out two guns from behind her and started shooting at the wall near them. Hotch and Morgan dove for cover.

"She seems pissed." Morgan said and Hotch nodded in agreement, what they didn't realize though, was that she was extremely fast. Before they knew it she had jumped over the dumpster they were hiding behind. She first punched Morgan quite hard in his injured shoulder, knocking him to the pavement with pain. Hotch hopped up ready to fight but she quickly twisted his wrist and disarmed him. He then tried hand to hand but she kicked him in the gut with her knee and elbowed him in the back of the head as keeled over. She then whipped he leg up and struck him in the back with it, effectively knocking him to the ground.

"Reid!" She screamed and ran toward him. Morgan, still partially conscious watched as she turned him onto his back and reached for her cell phone. She dialled someone and waited.

"I need help now!" She yelled, then scowling in annoyance she listened to the reply.

"LISTEN ASS HAT! Gray is down and I need immediate pickup, I'm in the back alley about two blocks from the club. I need you to come now!" She then covered up a cut on the man's side that Morgan hadn't noticed.

"Thank you." She finally said. It was a few minutes later that a large van arrived. Two men jumped out the back and took the bikes in. Then they carried the man into the back. Morgan being more conscious tried to get up and stop them but a foot pushing on his chest stopped him.

"I'd suggest you stay down fed." The woman said, applying more pressure to his chest. She looked quite menacing.

"Yo, Charleston hurry your bitch ass up!" One of the other men yelled. She quickly sneered at Morgan and a semi conscious Hotch and ran to the van.

About five minutes after the van had driven away with the dead man and the other dealers, Morgan had gotten off the ground as had Hotch. Morgan was holding his bleeding shoulder and Hotch was rubbing his already sore back.

"Hotch? Morgan? I heard shots! Are you guys alright?" The two heard as Emily yelled for them.

"Over here Prentiss!" Hotch yelled as he applied pressure to Morgan's wound. Emily came running around the dumpster and gasped at what she saw.

"Morgan are you okay?" He just grunted in response, "I'll call an ambulance." Emily said. Hotch nodded and noticed that there was some blood from the man he shot a little ways over. They had the DNA of the man he killed; now all they had to do was test it and they'd find his partner.

...

I know it's a little short, but it's the best I could do while studying for my exams and I got a job so I've been working too! Also I cannot believe I just wrote this, my fingers have a life of their own! Anyway, please please review I love hearing what y'all have to say! R&R!

~Love SpiderKate


	11. Chapter 11: Okay but not

Reid had felt a little guilty about shooting his friend, and yes he had been worried about Morgan recognizing him, but hey it was dark. Reid climbed on his bike and started the engine, turning back to give Derek a lazy salute before driving away. He had never even thought that Hotch would be behind him. Reid had been too caught up in playing Gray that he didn't notice the leader of the team sneak up behind him. He was already zooming away when the first shot whizzed past, he wasn't so lucky with the second bullet.

Reid had felt a pressure in the back of his head that caused him to lose control of his bike. He wasn't aware that he was crashing and was quite shocked when his body hit the ground at full force after flipping off the motor cycle. He did notice when his shoulder popped out of place though, although after that it was a bit murky. He knew his ribs had been either broken or cracked, and he knew that he landed in a position that would make finding a pulse difficult. After all when one arm and or hand is squished underneath the armpit, it cuts off blood flow and makes it seem like there is no pulse.

After Reid laid there for a little bit and heard the voices of Morgan and Hotch above him, he started losing consciousness. He passed out when he heard someone yelling 'no'.

...

The first thing he was aware of was the sound of an engine; the second was an astonished voice. He only caught a few words though.

"He... Lucky... Head could've been... That's one hell of a helmet... Bitch." Reid knew that voice, it belonged to Darius. That meant someone had rescued him from the alley where he had been shot. It was most likely Charlie who coerced the two other guards into helping him. Reid was slowly coming into the conscious world when he heard slow counting.

"3, 2, 1." Charlie said as she pushed hard on his shoulder, popping it back into place. That effectively shook Reid from his slow awaken and had him scream in pain whilst shooting up into a sitting position.

"Son of a bitch!" Reid shouted a grasped at his throbbing shoulder. It was then that he noticed he probably shouldn't have sat up that fast. The world was spinning and tilting at odd angles and his head pounded in a way that screamed concussion.

"Lie down Reid." Charleston told him sharply as she pushed his shoulders down. The room or van technically was still spinning, just not as bad.

"Wha?" Was all Reid managed to get out in some form of a question.

"You fell off your bike; hit your head pretty hard." Charleston muttered as she tried to get a hold of the bleeding in his side.

"Not to mention you got shot. Dude you were so lucky! The bullet got caught in the helmet lining! That's one hell of a helmet, where did you even get it?" Darius asked him incredulously. Reid just shook his head slowly, feeling himself passing out again. He got one last look of Charlie in and then drifted off to la la land.

When Reid came to again, he was lying on his bed in his apartment. He expected to see Charlie hovering over him, but instead he saw Adhey. The man had an intense expression on his face, as if he were concentrating on something very difficult. It was then that Reid felt the intense pain in his side and noticed that Adhey was stitching him up, without pain killers. Spencer groaned in pain and tried to move away from the man causing him harm, but there were hands holding him down as well as a body sitting on his legs.

"Spencer just stay still!" Charlie told him, she didn't want him to hurt himself more. When she called Adhey and explained the situation, he had been in and out of consciousness, but there was one constant thing he kept mumbling. He told Charlie he didn't want any narcotic pain meds, but once he was more awake, Charlie had forced Advil on him. That was before Adhey had gotten to the apartment.

"Make him stop..." Reid mumbled. Charlie rolled her eyes and adjusted herself on Reid to get a tighter hold of him.

"Oh c'mon, take it like a man." She told him, he just groaned in response.

"Maybe you should knock him out." Adhey said quietly, Charlie just shrugged and looked over to see how far done he was.

"You're almost done; he can handle it, right Spence?" Charlie asked and gripped his wrists that much tighter.

"Y-yes." Reid ground out, realizing he was showing weakness, the one thing he never liked to do.

"A-and, if yo-you were gonna knock me... OWT! You would make me hurt ev-even m-more." Reid said around the yelps and winces in his voice. He felt more than heard Charlie laugh from where she was sitting on him.

"Yeah I probably would punch you." She told him and then looked at Adhey, he was finished and was placing the bandage over the now sewn up wound.

"Alright, Spencer, it is finished." The spiritual man told him quietly. Spencer nodded and noticed Charlie had left her perch atop his body. He started sitting up slowly, but as soon as he tried the pain in his abdomen was too much and he fell back down.

"What's the diagnosis?" Spencer asked as he tried to sneak a peek at his body. There were white bandages wrapped around his ribs, he could feel a bandage on his head and the stitches in his side made him uncomfortable.

"Well, your good old boss shot you in the back of the head." Reid's eyes widened in reaction to Charlie's words, if he had been shot in the head how was he still alive? What type of brain damage had been done?

"Calm down babe, the bullet somehow got caught in your helmet lining and the force behind the bullet sent you forward. You flipped your bike on a garbage can, dislocated your shoulder, busted 3 ribs and cracked 2, smacked your head into the ground resulting in a mild concussion and finally ripped open your side which Adhey just took care of." Charlie listed. Reid didn't even realize his should was dislocated, slowly he tried to move his left arm, it didn't hurt, he tried his right, white hot pain spiked through his body, making him gasp.

"You idiot, don't try to move it." He heard Charlie mutter. He just groaned in response.

"Get some sleep, I'll still be here when you wake up, but Adhey is leaving, don't want to make anyone suspicious..." Charlie trailed off after realizing Reid had already succumbed to sleep.

...

"They found blood at the scene." Emily told Hotch as they walked down the hospital corridor to pick up Morgan who had been forced to go to a doctor to get his shoulder checked out.

"Good, hopefully we can find out who it was I shot, although I'm quite certain it was Reid Gray." Hotch muttered, a little distracted. Morgan had told him while in the ambulance, that the man had sounded overly familiar. Hotch had wrote it off as the pain affecting his judgement at the time, but it was still nagging at him.

Upon arriving at Morgan's room, they were met with him already dressed and rearing to go. His arm was in a sling to prevent any unnecessary movement and to help him get better faster due to his insistent need to be in the field.

"You ready to go?" Hotch asked. Morgan nodded and grabbed his coat. Thankfully nobody tried to put him in a wheel chair or he would have punched someone, good arm in a sling or not. As the FBI agents walked from the hospital, they did not utter a single word, all were too wrapped up in the fact they had no idea who Hotch had recently shot.

"You sure it was Reid Gray who shot you?" Prentiss finally asked as the dark federal looking SUV drove away from the hospital.

"I think it was, although, didn't we profile him as a narcissistic killer?" Hotch looked at him through the rear view mirror.

"Yes we did."

"Then why didn't he kill me? He would have obviously taken pride in the kill and especially in the fact that he killed an FBI agent." Morgan speculated. Prentiss nodded in the front, agreeing with him.

"Maybe he was showing us that he could have killed you but chose not to, maybe he gets more satisfaction in controlling death." Hotch said. It was a possibility, yet they had no idea what had truly being going on in the psychopath's head.

"How long ago did they take the blood sample to be tested?" Emily suddenly asked, snapping everyone out of their daze.

"I think it was about two hours ago..." Hotch muttered, they were approaching the hotel where the rest of the team had gathered to get some sleep.

Finally driving up to the hotel, Hotch parked the car and got out. Emily helped Morgan out from the back, despite his protests. Hotch just smiled at how they looked like a family at that moment. Although the family moments the team used to have barely ever happened any longer, due to the youngest leaving the team. Hotch felt guilty about it every day. Suddenly Hotch looked up and realized he was at his room door, shocked he looked to see Morgan and Emily saying good night to him and setting off to their separate rooms. Shoving his key card into the slot and opening the door his eyes were met with the same cold hotel room as every other he had been at.

Before Hotch finally retired for bed he read over the case file once more, like always. He didn't find anything new or have any new epiphanies, so he closed the file, turned the light off, and closed his eyes.

The next thing he knew, Hotch was being woken by the incessant ringing of his cell phone. Reaching to the night stand and flipping on the light, he grabbed his phone and read the caller ID, it was Garcia.

"Hotchner, Garcia what's up?" He answered with his name and then the tired groggy question.

"The... the bl-blood te-test..." She sobbed into the phone. Hotch immediately sat board straight in bed.

"What about it?" Hotch asked urgently.

"It...It was Re-Reid's!" She cried even harder. He was shocked, why would she cry about a... Suddenly it dawned on him why she might be crying.

"Reid who, Penelope!" Hotch all but yelled into the phone.

"Our Reid, Spencer Reid!"

...

Dear god that was dramatic. Sorry again, I suck at updating. I really love all you guys though and thank you so much for pestering me to post another chapter! R&R!

~Love SpiderKate


	12. Chapter 12: Say it ain't so

It was annoying and insistent. It was interrupting a wonderful painless dream, and it was going to be shot. The cell phone on Reid's bedside table was about to die. Spencer groaned angrily and rolled to the side, completely regretting that action when it was met with pain all throughout his shoulder and torso. Spencer's sudden yelp of pain did however wake up the sleeping body beside him.

"What? What is it?" Charlie gaped, as she tried to fully wake up. She was lying next to Spencer, having fallen asleep there while looking after his concussion.

"Phone!" Spencer gasped out between clenched teeth, trying to hold his breath against the pain.

"OH!" Charlie said in understanding and reached to grab the phone. "Hello?"

"_It's me; we have a bit of a problem."_ Aaron replied. Charlie sat up straighter and glanced over at the pained lump that was Spencer Reid, already suspecting the bad news had something to do with him.

"What is it?" She asked all business and none of the usual playfulness in her harsh tone.

"_Spencer Reid is dead. They found blood at the scene and of course the damn CSI's tested it before we had a chance to steal it or tamper with it."_

"Fuck." Charlie said which had the crumpled form beside her more aware.

Reid had realized something was amiss when Charlie had switched to her no business tone. He tried sitting straighter in bed, but with 3 broken ribs and no pain medication it was a little hard.

"Char, what is it?" He asked in a strained voice. All she did was put the phone on speaker.

"What do we do about it?" Charlie questioned.

"_Well, first off we have to make sure no one tries to tell Mrs. Reid. If she thinks her son is dead and then he is somehow actually alive, well she might just go more nuts than she already is_." Aaron's voice said floating through the wireless device.

"I'm right here Aaron." Spencer muttered darkly. He didn't overly appreciate his mother's illness being talked about so carelessly.

"_Sorry bro, anyway, we're going to have to deal with this."_

"Okay, so have Jake call the hospital and make sure that if anyone tries to tell Diana her son is dead, they do not get to her. Also make sure the doctors know he is alive, but there is strict business he is dealing with that no one can know about. Also we have to somehow keep the BAU from connecting Dr. Reid, to Reid Gray." Charlie said.

"_Yeah, right, any ideas Dr. Reid?"_ Aaron asked. Reid thought for a minute, and then came up with the solution.

"Well, we're just going to have to keep Spencer dead for a little while longer, and convince the LVPD and my old team that I was working for myself now as Reid Gray." He said. He didn't actually want to do that, but there were only two options. He could tell his team and ruin the operation he had going or, he could lie some more.

"Alrighty then, it's settled, let's go prove your old self is dead and your new self is still kicking." Charlie muttered, a sudden evil light sneaking into her eyes.

"_And how are you going to do that?"_ Aaron asked. Reid was watching Charlie warily. She was up to something.

"Well, Aaron, you do owe me a favor…" She pointed out with a slightly manic smile.

….

Hotch was pacing back and forth, his foot falls hardly making noise on the hotel carpet below. He had told Garcia to let him tell the team. Although he had yet to admit it to himself that he had shot Spencer Reid. Hell he had been waiting for the kid to waltz back into the BAU like nothing happened for months, but now… Hotch shook his head to try to clear his thoughts. He had to deal with what happened before the team found out from another source. He winced when a sudden memory of Garcia's tortured sobs came back to him. She was so broken up about what happened to the young ex agent, he had considered telling her to take a few days off. But there was still a case to consider and he wasn't about to let more young women be killed.

Suddenly four loud knocks on the door woke Hotch from his racing mind. He had been up all night, in various positions that spanned from sitting, to pacing, to lying on his back on the floor.

"Hotch, were leaving man!" Morgan said through the door. Hotch had to tell them, he had to. He didn't want to but he had to. He somberly made his way to the door, opening it slowly and told Morgan to gather the rest of the team in his room. Morgan immediately noticed that something was amiss and hurried off to comply with the request.

Once the team was all gathered in the room, and all had various looks of confusion on their faces, did Hotch start talking.

"As you know, I shot and killed the man that shot Morgan and whom we all believed to be Reid Gray." He began, and then took a deep breath as worried looks crossed the faces of his team. "Garcia called last night and told me the results of the blood test." Hotch took another deep breath, "It turned out not to be Reid Gray's blood, but, um, the results came back positive to Spencer Reid." Hotch finished off.

In the room there was one beat of silence before Morgan stood from his seat and shook his head back and forth.

"That's not possible Hotch! It can't be, you couldn't have, Reid wouldn't have…" Morgan trailed off not quite sure what to say.

"Maybe the blood was there before you shot…" JJ trailed off, not quite wanting to say who was shot.

"The CSI's were positive it was Spencer's, they had a sample of it from when he was still a part of our team." Hotch stated calmly. Rossi was about to say something when Morgan shot across the room and grabbed onto Hotch's shirt.

"How can you be so damn calm about this?! You _shot_ Spencer Reid, you shot him Hotch! Does none of this even get to you?" Morgan demanded right in Hotch's face.

"It does Morgan, I'm feeling so unbearably guilty at this moment, but we have a case…" Hotch suddenly found himself pushed roughly against the wall, hurting the sore spot from where he was kicked. The older agent winced in pain, but still held a steady gaze with Derek.

"A CASE? My best friend is dead and you're thinking about a case? Well guess what? This case has gotten not only my friend but yours too, killed! Why should I be thinking about this god damn case?!" Morgan yelled before dropping his hand from Hotch's shirt and storming out of the room.

"We, we're sure…?" JJ's broken whisper interrupted the tension filled silence after Morgan left. Prentiss immediately ran to her and hugged her, while JJ wept about the loss of her friend. To her it didn't matter that he had been fired or that he had been on drugs. She had been trying to get him back for the longest time, and then just as he was in her reach, he'd been taken.

"Garcia faxed me the papers, they're sure." Hotch mumbled solemnly. Rossi who had remained silent throughout the entire conversation just shook his head. He had been so sure…

"I just don't know why he would be there…?" Emily suddenly muttered, her own tears had started falling. That was what snapped Rossi from his thoughts.

"Yes, why would Reid be there?" He said aloud, and then turned to Hotch, "Morgan said, he moved quickly, and rolled out of the way right?" Hotch nodded, "And Spencer has never been known to be that good a shot. Hell the kid can shoot to kill, yes, but to maim, he never was very good at that. If he was to maim it would have been by accident, so how did he shoot Morgan's shoulder without hurting anything else? None of this makes sense." By then everyone else's minds were whirring with the same questions.

"You're right…" Hotch muttered. Morgan who had been out in the hall trying to calm down, re entered the room.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter anymore! You shot him Hotch; we felt for a pulse man, we didn't find one. None of these questions matter because Spencer is dead." Morgan exclaimed as a few of his own tears fell from pain filled eyes.

"We…we'll need to notify his mother." JJ told them and as she looked up anyone, not just profilers, could see the large amount of pain and grief on her face.

"Oh no." Emily whispered beside her. Diana Reid, a paranoid schizophrenic, who had lost everything but her son in the past, was now without anyone she loved. How were they supposed to tell her that the only person who truly makes her life matter is dead?

"We should do it after…" Hotch began.

"Don't you dare say we should do it after the case! We should be there right now Hotch!" Morgan snapped. That froze Hotch in his tracks. Suddenly, the shrill ringing of someone's cell phone interrupted the tension. Hotch unfroze just as quickly as he had frozen and answered the phone.

"Hotchner." He answered, "What is this man willing to tell us?" whoever was on the other line said something, "Alright we'll be there." He said and hung up.

"And who was that?" Rossi asked.

"It was Officer Moscoe. He just informed me that someone inside the drug organization has been arrested and has come through with some information on Reid Gray and Lily Charleston in exchange for a deal."

"Wait, what about Reid's mom?" Morgan asked anxiously.

"We'll go immediately after we talk to the witness." Hotch said. Then with that being said the team gathered their things and left to go to the police station, all wanting answers about just who was on the motor cycle and why was Spencer Reid involved.

…

Hehehehe, so sorry for taking so long with the update, but you see I was in Florida and was all lazy and vacationy, but now I'm back, don't fret! Also I went to Harry Potter World, it's fantastic you should all go! Also R&R, much obliged and it helps me write, also if I don't update in forever feel free to do some forceful reviews to make me write, not anything mean, but something funny or begging enough to get me going again, I don't mind! Once again R&R have a nice day!

~Love SpiderKate


	13. Chapter 13: Freeze

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, or any characters from the show, I only own Charlie and her crazy bunch of people. Good day.

...

The witness was of Hispanic descent and had an air of extreme arrogance. From what Hotch could tell, the man sitting in the interrogation table had been partying the night before. His eyes were slightly red, he smelt like booze and you could tell by the way he was slightly slumped and he was squinting his eyes, he had a hangover.

"What's your name?" Hotch asked brusquely.

"Name's Aaron Garcia." He replied offhandedly.

"What do you know about Spencer Reid?" Hotch got straight down to business. In the room behind the one way mirror Morgan was still fuming and Rossi was watching the interrogation intently.

"Dr. Kid? Ha, he was one hell of a genius. He worked for Gray and Charleston." He told Hotch.

"What did he do for Gray and Charleston?"

"Well, originally he was buying drugs off me and people like me, as in drug runners. Charleston and Gray are the main suppliers and dealers, whom we work under. Spencer was a huge junkie, like so bad that he couldn't get his fix off his precious Dilaudid and started to do heroin instead." Hotch blanched at this information. He had not realized how much worse Reid had gotten; he had always assumed that Reid would have gotten better.

"So after a while skinny little Spencer had no money left, that was around the time that I had found out he was a genius. He was going through some heavy withdrawals and needed the drug and I kind of felt bad for the mess that he was and offered him a job. I cleared it with my bosses afterward; they seemed to like the idea of having a genius work for them." Aaron told Hotch as easily as breathing. In the next room Morgan felt like he was on the verge of a panic attack, Rossi was looking slightly pale, JJ had started crying again and Emily had joined her.

"What did he do for you?" Hotch asked in a slightly shaky voice. Only a slight shake, not very noticeable to the normal human populous, but seeing as he was talking to Aaron...

"Oh yeah, I forgot, this is personal for you feds cause he used to be one of you. Oh shit, you're his ex boss! Dude, he told me about you, man he hated how you lied to him like that, you and that blonde chick... What was your guys' names... UUUMMM, Aaron, ha like me, and Jennifer wasn't it?" Suddenly Hotch's entire chair slammed back onto the floor and he reached across the table and grabbed Aaron by the collar of his shirt.

"Shut the hell up you piece of trash." Hotch muttered in a voice that was so angry it could be considered yelling if it weren't for the fact he was talking in a quiet menacing tone.

"What's wrong? Don't like the fact that your boy is dead? Or that one of you killed him? Or that he worked as a chemist for us dealers?"Aaron questioned, showing no fear to the looming and fuming Agent Hotchner who was starting to cut off Aaron's airflow from his tight grip on his shirt collar.

"Hotch let go." Morgan told him, appearing beside him suddenly. Hotch had not even noticed that the interrogation room door had been open, or that Morgan and Rossi had even entered.

"Aaron, he isn't worth it." Rossi said from beside him. Hotch finally relented and let go of the 'witness's' collar. Both Morgan and Rossi then escorted him from the room and failed to notice the grimace of guilt flash across Aaron's face.

Out of the interrogation room, Hotch was having a hard time calming down. JJ had been trying to console him but she wasn't doing a very good job because she was still crying.

"What the hell happened in there man?" Morgan asked.

"He, he just struck a nerve." Hotch responded, still trying to calm his red clouded mind. The truth was that he felt extremely guilty about shooting Spencer, not only that but he was so sad and he was grieving like the rest of the team. He had decided not to show it, due to the fact that the team needed a strong leader but when the runner as he called himself said that Reid was so addicted he had to switch to heroin, something broke inside of him. All Hotch wanted to do at that moment was curl up beside his deceased wife and have her hold him. The mere thought of losing another family member hurt more than could be construed. Even if Spencer had left the family, his mark would always be there.

"Um, agents?" A timid voice said from outside of their tight circle.

"Yes?" Rossi asked the young beat cop as he looked at his feet nervously.

"The chief asked if you need the guy in there anymore." He said gesturing to the interrogation room.

"No, we're fine, tell him we might contact him though." Hotch told him, starting to sound slightly more like himself. The young cop nodded and set about letting the 'witness' free.

_Well that was emotional_ Aaron thought as he left the police station. He had hated to cause such a rise in the agent but that was what Charlie said his job was. Speaking of Charlie, Aaron whipped out his cell and proceeded to call her and tell her the good news, Spencer Reid was officially dead.

...

"Mom, if anyone tells you that I've died, do not believe a word that they say." Spencer told his mother as they sat together at her favorite window seat.

"Spencer, why would you be dead?" She asked incredulously. Charlie was standing near the two, watching the exchange, Diana didn't trust her very much because she thought that Charlie was government.

"Because they have had some misleading information, but in my new line of work, it is very dangerous for anyone to know I'm alive."

"Wait, you're confusing me now." Diana told him, exasperation coloring her tone. Charlie quickly and smoothly stooped down and whispered to Reid.

"I'm going to talk to the doctor to make sure that whenever your fed friends try to talk to your mom, they don't get in here." Charlie said and made a swift exit. Although just as she was about to reach Diana's doctor's office, her cell phone vibrated in her pocket.

"Yeah?" She answered.

"_It's me, and the jobs done, they believe that Spencer was working for you. I also think that it's starting to sink in that he's dead."_ Aaron said. Charlie smiled sadly and wished that it didn't have to be that way.

"Thanks Aaron, you now owe me nothing." She laughed then hung up. She quickly went over her plan with the doctor and he agreed and said he'd do everything he could to not let anyone but Charlie or Spencer near Diana. By the time she was finished, so was Spencer and they headed out of Bennington.

"How are you feeling?" Charlie asked as they got into the nova. Spencer was wearing a sling for his right shoulder, and he needed his bandage changed.

"I feel like I fell off a motor cycle after being shot." He answered her sarcastically. His head was killing him and all he really wanted to do was go to sleep.

"Well, we have to go give our runners some drugs, they're out." She muttered. He rolled his eyes. He hated participating in illegal events, yet he still had to for the sake of his cover, not to mention his life. If anyone in Ralf's mob or gang or whatever, found out he was a fed and she was a marine, they'd be killed on site. Every now and then Spencer yearned for his nice safe desk back at the BAU, sure the team had lied to him, but he'd had that job since he was 22. He had actually forgiven Hotch and JJ and Emily, but he couldn't leave, not after everything he had been through to get to the position he was in. All his training and strength would go to waste if he went back. They'd all be treating him like some kid. Hell he was 30 years old, he'd been in the BAU for eight years and learned to fight like a marine (sort of, he still gets his ass whooped by Charlie, but he lasts far longer and can occasionally win) and he had a new team. Also he had a new friend, Charlie was amazing. She would go to hell and back for him and they'd known each other for little over half of a year. Sure at first when he became a guard for Ralf he missed Morgan and the team, but he had Charlie. They had nothing sexual going on and that was okay with Reid, unless you count the one night where it got a little out of control, when they both got a little drunk and stuff happened, but it was only once and it never happened again. If anything it solidified their friendship.

"Yo, smart kid, where the hell is your head? Were here." Charlie exclaimed while poking him in the leg, the one part of his body that didn't have a mass amount of pain welled up inside.

"Who are we meeting?"

"Uh, Josh? I can't remember his name, all I know was that he was a shifty dude." She muttered and got out of the car and stalked off into the alley beside them. Reid really hated this part, he hated the selling of illegal substances and he hated the stupid runners. They always mocked him about his addict past, or how he was Charlie's bitch. On more than one occasion he had to shove some punk kid against a wall or the ground to get his point across that he was _nobody's_ bitch. Reid quickly gathered his courage and threw on his mask of Reid Gray, then he lazily stepped out of the car and went to lounge on the wall beside Lily Charleston.

"Did he give a time when he was comin'?" Gray questioned as Lily shrugged her shoulders.

"I hope soon, I wanna go and talk to Ralf, I got some important shit he needs to know." Charleston commented offhand. It was then that they noticed a blonde man, with a slight build walking toward them.

"You Josh?" Gray asked upon his arrival. The man nodded and took out a wad of cash.

"Here is everything I made the past two months, I get ten percent right?" He quizzed as his eyes looked left and right for signs of danger.

"Yeah, jeez dude relax, you look like you're waiting for something to jump out and rape you. Seriously, hold on, it will only take a second to restock you, Gray take the money and extract his cut would you?" Charleston grinned as Gray took the money and she looked through her shoulder bag for the drugs.

"Here." Gray announced as he gave the runner his cut.

"And here also." Charleston added as she gave the man a paper bag filled with that months drugs.

"Thanks." He quickly muttered looking through the bag. Then he carefully wrapped it up and itched his ear. The movement easily caught Reid's and Lily's attention. Their eyes widened and they made a move for their car.

"FREEZE! POLICE!" Voices yelled out from around them. They were surrounded by about twelve police officers, all of them had their guns trained on the two undercover operatives. Charlie sighed and lifted her hand above her head, Reid did the same but had to leave his right down.

Reid groaned as the officer slammed him against the hood of a squad car.

"Hey ass hole, I have broken ribs here." He complained. The cop on laughed.

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do will and can be used against you, you have the right to an attorney..." And the cop babbled on as he led Reid and Charlie into two different cars, both hand cuffed and pissed off beyond belief at the stupidity of cops. Then a thought struck Reid, his team was at the police station.

...

Well that was jam packed with fun! I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please R&R, I would love to hear what you have to say! Thanks for reading!

~Love SpiderKate


	14. Chapter 14: Crash and Burn

"Good job, rookie. You just caught your first drug dealers." Officer Miles said to the newest recruit to the police force. It was his plan to capture Reid Gray and Lily Charleston. His plan was perfect, nothing could have gone wrong.

"Oh, so you came up with the plan... Sheesh how old are you? 12?" Charleston commented from the back seat of the cruiser. Gray snickered beside her.

"Shut it, dealer, or should I say, Lily Charleston?" The rookie shot back. Gray rolled his eyes.

"Oh wow, you know our names." Gray muttered sarcastically before glaring out the window. These cops were going to end up getting him and Charlie killed. Suddenly, two drivers caught his eye. It was Darius and Dmitri, driving a hulking 4x4 truck. They looked as equally shocked as Reid. They quickly reacted to the situation and turned into the middle of the road. Gray read their intentions immediately. Those two were going to t-bone the police cruiser.

A little earlier, a call had come in over the ride and caused the two other cruisers following behind the one Charlie and Reid were in to go and help. The only one left going to the station was the one they were in.

"Char, look out your window now please." He hissed at her, she quickly did as she was told and her eyes widened at what she saw. She reacted without any thought and just before the truck hit, she threw her body on top of Reid's to shield him from more damage.

The two cops were laughing in the front seat and had no time to even blink when the truck slammed into the right side of the car, crumpling the metal. The rookie, who was not in the driver's seat, was knocked out immediately. The other cop, the more experienced one, was stuck listening to the crunch of impact and the screeching of metal against metal. The cruiser slid across the asphalt, leaving tire marks on the ground. Charlie and Reid in the back seat, tried to stay as far away from the impact as possible, although some glass shards embedded themselves in Charlie's back. She hissed when the hit, but she was keeping Reid shielded so he wouldn't be more hurt.

Just as suddenly as the impact happened, it stopped and the police cruiser momentarily bounced, before becoming still. The only two conscious passengers left were Reid and Charlie, who had to quickly rearrange themselves to become Reid Gray and Lily Charleston again.

"You two alright in there?" Dmitri asked, as he and Darius pried open the door.

"Just peachy, Dmitri thanks for asking." Lily commented sarcastically as she carefully got out, making sure to use slow movements to not hurt her back even more. Gray got out after, watching his own injuries as well. The cops had taken off his sling when they had arrested him, after being shoved in a police car, handcuffed and hit by a truck, his shoulder hurt like a bitch. Not to mention he had some broken ribs to contend with, and let's not forget his concussion.

The chilly Las Vegas night air surrounded Reid as he stepped out of the car. Charlie already had a knife out and was picking the lock on the handcuffs. She always kept two small knives in her boots, and since her boots were structured she had an easy time hiding them. When Charlie's popped open, she went to work on Reid's handcuffs, when the driving officer woke up.

"No..." He groaned, trying to get out of the car to do his job, to capture the drug dealers.

"Oh shut up gramps." Darius said and whipped out his gun. Charlie who was still working on Reid's handcuffs didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. Darius had walked over to the older officer and shot him point blank in the head. Reid's head snapped up, and shock crossed his features, before he quickly masked it and turned away. His thoughts centered on how he could have saved the man if he had been more observant. Suddenly a clicking noise caught his attention and his handcuffs were falling to the ground.

"Let's go, you guys are taking forever." Darius told them nonchalantly and walked back to the truck. Dmitri shrugged and casually followed. Reid and Lily did not say anything and climbed into the back of the truck. As they sped away, Reid couldn't help but glance back at the mangled police car, his thoughts a jumbled mess of guilt.

...

"So what happened here?" Hotch asked as the CSIs worked to gather evidence from the smashed police cruiser. Morgan Hotch and Rossi had shown up just a few minutes after the call came in, and they left Prentiss and JJ to continue working the profile.

"The cop car was carrying two people of interest, Reid Gray and Lily Charleston. We think, in an attempt to bust them loose, some of their buddies rammed a 4x4 truck into the side of the car. Officer Masters got the worst of it, he's in the hospital in serious condition, and I guess they thought he was dead. They shot Officer Miles in the head, point blank, revenge for arresting them? It doesn't matter, we are going to find these fucking drug dealers and lock them up for the rest of their lives." The Officer in charge of the crime scene angrily clenched his fists as he finished his explanation.

"Do we know anything else?" Rossi questions as he investigated the body of the dead officer. He had been shot point blank.

"We think he was shot with a 9mm." The officer muttered.

"Thanks, that helps." Morgan commented, supposedly the drug dealing brother Darius and Dmitri used 9mms. The team still had no idea what Gray and Charleston used, but at least they had new info on who took out the cruiser and killed the young girls.

"So, the brothers crashed this car." Hotch casually supplied.

"It would seem so, Rossi anything particular about the body?"

"Nope, he must have been staring right at the person who did this to him though." Hotch nodded, his thoughts returning to how the doctors would not let the team visit Mrs. Reid, she was, apparently, in a bad way. Hotch suddenly remembered when Reid told him about how his mother was known to 'feel' things, she liked to say "a mother knows". Maybe she already knew that her son was dead.

"Yo, Hotch?" Morgan called. His voice however did not hold the same quality it usually did; it had a haunting mourning tinge to it.

"Yes, right, we should, uh, we should." Hotch stuttered trying to refocus his thoughts.

"We should get back to the station." Rossi concluded, his head clear, even though Spencer had been shot dead. Or so the team thought, Rossi as usual, had his own suspicions.

...

"OW! Oh my god, could you be a little gentler?" Charlie complained as Adhey pulled the small pieces of glass from her back. Reid was watching her with mild interest; his thoughts seemed to keep rerouting back to the dead police officer.

"I could be, if you weren't moving so much." He muttered back at her. Charlie breathlessly laughed humorlessly, Adhey being sarcastic was rare.

"Spence, you okay?" Charlie asked suddenly, which snapped the young man out of his thoughts.

"Fine." He quietly answered. He then continued to stare off into space since Charlie did not press the matter. His thoughts started to wander, and he wondered if it was time to tell is team what had been going on. Although they would be terribly pissed off at him for lying to them. Also Hotch had shot him, so they would be happy he was alive. Then again, he didn't tell them he was alive. Reid groaned aloud and buried his head in his hands, there were far too many outcomes to think about which frustrated him to no end.

Adhey was finished bandaging Charlie and she was leading him out the flat. She said her goodbyes at the door and he inconspicuously snuck out back to his car. They couldn't have anyone knowing that Adhey was not as 'bad' as them. Reid ran his fingers through his hair, he could barely think straight. Adhey had insisted on changing his bandages and after that he had changed into a simple t-shirt and some sweat pants. Charlie had on some leggings and a baggy hoodie, due to her back being bandaged and sore.

"What's got you down?" She questioned as she sat down on the sofa beside him.

"I want to tell my team." He mumbled quietly.

"I don't think that's such a great idea, I mean, they think we're murderers, Agent Hotchner shot you, and you shot Morgan. Seriously babe, you think that's a good plan?"

"I don't know, I just, I don't think I can deal with this for any longer. Charlie it has been 5 months, this case, mission, whatever, wasn't supposed to last this long." He exclaimed throwing his hands to the air, and wincing as the movement aggravated his shoulder.

"Okay yeah, it's lasted a bit longer. But come on, you signed up for this."

"Only because you made me!"

"How did I make you?" She sneered, standing up and crossing her arms, glaring down at him.

"You were the one that suggested maybe I get away. Also you offered me the job when I was in a vulnerable state. Fuck Charlie, I was on the verge of using!" He yelled standing up and staring down at her. Even though he was 6"1 and she was 5"7, the height difference barely mattered.

"So? You didn't sign anything until after that night, and please, you were the one going around cursing out your friends!"

"I felt betrayed, they lost my trust!"

"OH, of course! I'm sorry, I forgot, they lost your trust. Wasn't that the whole reason you joined my team in the first place?!"

"What? NO!"

"Yeah actually, if I remember correctly, it was because you were being a big baby, and wanted an escape, you tried drugs and I gave you an out. You should be thanking me! If it wasn't for me, you'd be shooting up somewhere all alone right now!" She shouted and with that Spencer couldn't take it any longer; her drew his arm back and threw a punch with his left arm. It was a sloppy anger filled punch and Charlie caught it easily. She twisted his arm behind his back and tripped him so he fall face first into the couch. He yelped as he felt his broken ribs protest, but Charlie didn't let up.

"Look, I get that you're angry, and I get that you miss your friends. But deal with it. Right now we have our job to do and they have theirs." She finally relinquished his arm and stepped back. He sat up on the couch, breathing heavily and holding his midsection.

"I'm going to call Jake and Danny; I'll be back in a few." She snapped and angrily left the room, slamming the door. Reid continued to sit and he stared numbly at the floor. _What did I just do?_ He thought.

...

TADA! I finally finished! So originally I had them at the police station, then I didn't like it, so I moved them to the police car then to the station and I didn't like it again, so I came up with this. I'm sorry it took so long. I lost the will to write there for a while. So here. R&R PLEASE! I need to know your thoughts!

~Love SpiderKate


	15. Chapter 15: Making up (filler)

Charlie angrily stomped her way out onto the balcony of the apartment. Her breathing came in short angered bursts and she could feel her hands shaking. How dare Reid question her judgement like that? Sure she might have manipulated him a little bit, but he could have said no at any time. He was the one who called her at all hours to bitch about the team; she barely forced him to do anything. That ungrateful ass. Here she was, training him, being patient with him, stopping him from going back to relying on _drugs_ and he couldn't get his head out of his ass long enough to thank her. _Alright Charlie, calm your ass down, you're being a whiny teenager_ Charlie thought, and then took a few breaths to steady herself. It was at that point that she realized she was aimlessly scratching at the insides of her arms, more specifically, her elbows where the scars of drug abuse lay. Shocked she dropped her arms to her sides and clenched her fists. She may be a marine, but she did have her weaknesses. The intense cravings for heroin had started a few days back when she witnessed some kids shooting up behind the bar in which Ralf worked out of. The kids had even asked her if she wanted to join in on the fun and take a hit, she immediately refused and went back in the bar to find Reid. After that she couldn't help herself from thinking about the deadly liquid she used to poison herself with.

Jake had told her at the beginning of the mission that if she or Reid had any bad cravings they tell him and be pulled from the field for a few days. Yet the mission had become crucial to complete because of the murders and the pressure from the police. Charlie just dealt with it silently as she always did, she hated showing weakness, a thing her and Reid had in common. Her recent irritability could be blamed as cravings and PMS, but she really shouldn't be excusing her bitching for that. She should apologize to Reid, she finally decided. But first, she had to make her calls.

...

Was she right? Was he really being a big baby? He hadn't meant to, he thought that she didn't mind his ranting, at one point she had called it funny. The whole fight was his fault; he should have never suggested that they tell the team. He was feeling inexcusably irritable as of late. The pain in his head, ribs and shoulder attested to that. The truth was that he really wanted to go take some Dilaudid. He knew he really should not be craving, seeing as he was selling drugs yet he couldn't help himself. He got shot in the head for fuck's sake; did he not deserve any compensation for that? Reid looked down at his shaking hands sitting in his lap. His back was leant against the couch and he sat on the floor cross legged. He brought his shaking hands up closer to his face and willed them to stop shaking. He always noticed that when he was craving his hands would start to shake and the only thing that would make it stop was if he focused on something else. But what was there to concentrate on? The pain in his body? The anger and guilt he felt for Charlie? No, none of that would make him want to not shoot up.

Suddenly Reid shot up from his sitting position and walked out of the sitting area and toward the kitchen. Charlie and Reid stashed their drugs for sale in the kitchen cupboards and Reid knew for a fact that they had some vicodin within the contents. The small white pills were good enough until he could get his hands on some Dilaudid... Reid then froze mid step. What the hell was he thinking? He couldn't just take drugs, how would they help? They would numb and mute everything that was going on around him but they wouldn't last forever.

As Reid stood frozen in the kitchen, Charlie walked in from the balcony. She noticed his pale face first, and then she looked at his shaking hands which matched her own. She sighed loudly and that gained his attention.

"I am too, just so you know." She muttered quietly, yet loudly enough for him to hear.

"What do you mean?" Reid asked somewhat coldly as he did not yet want to talk to her.

"I'm craving." She told him simply and then proceeded into the kitchen. She stopped at the pantry, opening the door and taking a look inside.

"How long?" She heard him question. Charlie sighed again and shrugged her shoulder, her back still facing him.

"About four days." She continued to look in the pantry for anything to munch on.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He replied, crossing his arms and leaning against the small island.

"What are you kidding?" She exclaimed turning her body from the pantry with candies in her hand, "The whole mission got so much more dangerous, you're boss shot you in the head, we got arrested and then those idiot brothers drove a truck into the police car. There was a little bit too much going on for me to be worrying about craving heroin!" Reid looked away, her words had been so spiteful and directed at him.

"God, shit! I'm sorry, Spencer. I'm stressed, craving and have fucking PMS, but I know that's no excuse to take things out on you like that. I'm being a huge bitch." She finally exalted and then without even thinking she ripped open the bag of candies, sour cherry blasters, and popped two into her mouth. Reid watched her closely, her whole crazy apology and then shoving random gummies into her mouth, his brain just couldn't handle the situation the way he was supposed to. Reid started giggling, then laughing, full out chortles that made his stomach hurt and tears come to his eyes. Before Charlie knew it she was doubled over laughing as well. The whole scene she had just made seemed so stupidly funny that neither ex agent or marine could hold in the hysterics.

By the time the two had finished their laughing they were sitting side by side on the floor, with their backs against the island counter, eating sour cherry blasters. They giggled a little bit every now and then, but the only sound left was the crackling of the plastic bag when they reached for candies.

"You realize I'm sorry though, right?" Charlie said, finally breaking the relaxed silence.

"Yeah, and I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have thrown that punch or said any of those things, it _was_ my choice."

"Alright, alright, can we be partners again please?" Charlie asked because she always felt uncomfortable sharing feelings.

"Yeah, we can be _friends_ again." Reid told her and swiftly put his arm around her in a half hug. He smiled, he rarely let that side of himself out, the one where he needed human contact, yet Charlie seemed to make him let it out.

...

"NO! Please! I'll do anything! STOP!" The young blond wailed as Darius shoved her against a wall, and ground up against her.

"Aw, don't be like that sweetheart, you know, you were asking for this, wearing this skimpy little dress." Darius sneered, running his hand up her thigh.

"NO!" She screeched, before Dmitri threw his hand across her mouth.

"She's loud and annoying." Dmitri muttered and he quickly shoved a needle filled with heroin into her neck. The effects worked quickly and she turned to jelly against the wall.

"What did you cut it with this time?" Darius asked as he worked his way under the limp girl's dress.

"Ecstasy, I figured we could use some fun tonight." Dmitri told him. Darius smirked at his brother's genius and then continued to take off the young girl's panties. Dmitri and Darius were in for a good time...

...

AWE Reid and Charlie had such a feel good moment, and then it was ruined by Darius and Dmitri, those ass holes. Sorry if this chapter got a little graphic. And rape is a very serious thing that should not be taken lightly, as is drug abuse.

Sorry I didn't update for so long, I'm in two productions and I'm failing Chem, so I've been busy! I quickly want to thank all my reviewers, you guys are what keep me writing! Thanks so much! Also, all the people who read my story, you guys are great! SOOOOO PLEASE R&R, I want to know what you think!

~Love SpiderKate

PS sorry this is short, it's like a filler chapter.


	16. Chapter 16: Spencer Reid

ALERT, ALERT! A.N RIGHT HERE!

I'm sorry, this was the longest I have ever gone without updating, but school and life got very hard for me recently and I just had to take a step back and re-evaluate. But I'm back-ish now and you'll get more regularly irregular updates.

Once again I do not own Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do own my own made up characters and this plot line

PS OMG Poor Reid, Meave dying was awful! I thought he was going to go back to drugs there for a while. Thank goodness he didn't (And also I'm sad that he didn't, it was a good opportunity for angst.)

ONTO the story!

…-….

The conference room was quiet, only the occasional crunching of chips or the slurp of a drink broke it. The 7 BAU members were stumped. There hadn't been another murder in two days and they had no leads beside the drug dealers they had yet to question, or find for that matter. The last murder was brutal; the young woman had been badly raped and beaten. She was alive when she was found and died later of complications during surgery. That alone was enough to depress the entire team, but they still had Spencer on their minds. The young man whom Hotch had shot in the head. Morgan had somewhat forgiven him, but he couldn't fully forgive him. The ex-agent was his best friend; he just couldn't forgive the man who shot him. JJ was angry at herself, she had let Reid become a drug addict, and she had lied to him and broken his trust. Hotch felt the same and all of the agents together sitting at the large rectangular table made the room foul with sadness.

"It's been two days." Hotch mumbled quietly, and five since he shot Spencer in the head. They still hadn't told his mother, and none of them were looking forward to that conversation.

"We could go over what we have so far?" Rossi suggested. His head had started to hurt due to his side mission to find out where Spencer really was. He knew that the kid wasn't rotting in some body bag somewhere. He just had to figure out where he was before telling the team.

"We did that about three hours ago and nothing new has come up, so we would just be repeating the same things." Emily said. Garcia nodded in agreement. She had been flown out on the night of the last murder, needing to be with her family in a time of mourning.

"I need to get out of here." Morgan muttered, standing up suddenly and making his way from the room. Garcia, being ever faithful to her best friend stood to follow, only to be held back by Emily. Morgan needed some alone time.

…...

"THIS IS GETTING TOO FUCKED UP! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Ralf yelled. The four guards flinched at the pitch his voice had reached.

"What have you found? These murders are by fuckers in my organization and I want them dead." He asked more quietly but with the same ferocity his voice always held.

"We know that they're using experimental drugs on the girls and then raping and beating them until they die." Gray supplied. He was staring at Dmitri and Darius as he said this because he had decided to profile the murderers. He didn't want his team getting too close to him so he was trying to solve the murders for them. His profile pointed toward the brothers of the guard.

"Yeah and they're definitely sick with some mental illness. Because, seriously, how can you not be if you're that sloppy with killings that the feds come looking for you." Lily sneered causing Reid to elbow jab her. He didn't want them to know that they knew that they killed those girls. Although, she wanted them to know, Lily wanted to have them arrested so that she and Reid could finish their original mission. It had been almost 6 months since they had started and they were looking to finish as soon as possible and get back to their lives.

"Please, they're testing drugs, it would probably get sloppy." Darius said, smirking. On the inside though, he was fuming. How dare that bitch call him sloppy!

"Whatever he is, you find him, and then once you do, kill him. Make sure to bring me his head." Ralf said and motioned for them to go.

As the guards left, Lily felt something off. Her usual alert feeling, like something bad was about to happen. She shrugged it off as a little bit of paranoia due to being undercover for so long. Lily and Gray went to the underground parking lot of Ralf's business building and got into the Nova. Reid drove and got them back to their apartment faster than expected.

"I'm going to go up and take a nap or something, I'm dead tired." He yawned as he got out of the car.

"I think I'm gonna go for a drive, keys?" He tossed them to her and she got back into the Nova and drove away, leaving Reid to their apartment.

What the two didn't realize though is that in the shadows, Dmitri and Darius were watching them, waiting for Reid to climb the stairs and go up to his apartment where he'd be all alone.

…..

Morgan walked through the busy streets of Las Vegas slowly, wanting to take the time to think and be alone. Women walking by, however, had different ideas and had been trying to give him their numbers and take his. He refused of course, he was on the job but he did consider it. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the roar of an engine off to his left. It was the muscle car that he had seen on the night that the team had arrived in Las Vegas. The dark paint glittered in the sun light and gave a haze around it from the heat. A young woman in light wash ripped jeans, high heeled sandals and a pink tank top got out. Her hair was long and curly, golden brown in color, and painstakingly familiar. Morgan could swear that he knew that woman, so he did the logical thing and followed her.

Lily Charleston, also known as Charlie Moscoe, walked leisurely down the strip, trying to clear her head. She wanted just a few minutes to herself where she didn't have to be Lily Charleston, the drug dealer, and could instead be Charlie Moscoe, the good person. Her feet hurt, she had no idea why she chose to wear those sandals, but she did, because Charleston wears them. She was so frustrated with being Lily Charleston; she was tired of faking every action. Tired of guarding a piece of scum like Jack Ralf, she was tired of handing out drugs so runners could get people, innocent or not, addicted to them. Overall, Charlie was just plain tired. No job had ever gotten her that down before. Although, no job she had ever done had been that involved in drugs.

Charlie was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realize she was being followed. She continued her walk and by the time she made it to the end, her head was effectively clear and she started taking in her surroundings, a little too late though. Suddenly a hand reached from the dark alley way she was walking by and wrenched her in. She had no time to fight back before a needle was thrust into her neck and the plunger was depressed. She felt a warm tingly and awfully familiar feeling start to spread through her body. As fast as she could she elbowed her attacker in the gut and turned to face him. Her vision was becoming blurry and her heart sank as she recognized the effects of the drug. Her muscles were running on failing adrenaline and she slowly sank to the ground, unable to stand. Her attacker reached for just as her entire body was about to hit the ground and he lifter her.

"N-no." Charlie whispered as whoever drugged her lifted her into a vehicle. He dropped her roughly onto the floor and then someone else taped her hands and ankles together behind her back. Her mind was sluggish but all she could comprehend was the blind panic she felt as she was kidnapped again. She was never supposed to be terrified, she was supposed to keep her head in situations of peril, but all she could think of was the fact that her kidnapping was exactly like it was when she was 16. How she was just walking harmlessly along and was grabbed from behind, drugged and then taken away in some asshole's van.

Morgan had lost sight of the familiar woman in the crowd after following her to the end of the strip. He decided to turn around and head back to the station, his mind was free of the clutter and he was prepared to work. As he was walking back a dark navy van drove past and Morgan's heat thumped loudly with adrenaline. The team had profiled that the killers had a dark van or SUV to transport women in the dark, or to transport drugs. He quickly memorized the plate number and hurried back to the precinct.

….

Reid stretched on his bed, lazily coming out of a deep sleep. He needed that nap more than he had realized. The clock beside him said 5:30; dinner time, his stomach agreed. Assuming Charlie would be out in the kitchen making them dinner, Reid allowed himself to relax a little longer. Only when he realized that there were no sounds of Charlie making anything did he get up. He all but ran into the kitchen, looking for his partner, he also searched every room in their flat, hoping that maybe she had taken a nap as well. Having not found any sign of her, Reid ran down the stairs to look in the garage, the Nova wasn't sitting in its usual spot, it wasn't even there. A sense of dread started to fill Reid's chest and he dashed back up the stairs and grabbed his cell. He pressed number 3 on speed dial and waited as it wrung.

"This is Jake."

"It's me, there's something wrong. Charlie has been out for four hours and hasn't checked in." Reid exclaimed quickly.

"What do you mean, where is she?" Jake asked. You could hear the tension in his voice.

"She told me she was going for a drive and then I took a long nap and woke up and she wasn't here!" Reid roughly ran his fingers through his short and styled hair. He was pacing back and forth through the kitchen waiting as Jake told Aaron to make some calls.

"Anything?" Spencer asked desperately.

"No, Steve and I are going to come to you, just wait there." Jake replied and then the line went dead. Spencer stood there for several moments just listening to the dial tone, and hoping that Charlie would walk back into their flat with a smile and ask him why he looks so worried.

Spencer stopped pacing and tried to get a handle on himself. He had to start thinking like a profiler again instead of a dealer. He had to think, not panic, think! His brain was slightly more jumbled with worry but the only people he could think that would have taken Charlie were Darius and Dmitri. They were the only ones who had the balls to kidnap her. The always fought back whenever she insulted them and never once had they backed down from the threat of a fight with her.

"Great, not only are they murders but they also just kidnapped one of the best fighters I have ever met." Reid muttered out loud. He ran a hand through his hair again, trying to think of what to do.

By the time Jake arrived, Reid had mapped out an entire plan in his head. He wasn't sure if Jake would agree to it, but it was the best plan he could think of.

"Alright, we are going to need to do something in the next 48 hours because if this is about Charlie's undercover work, I don't know how long she can withstand torture." Jake told him in his captain voice, but Reid could profile him easily. He knew that all the big bravado Jake was showing was just an act; he was a worried wreck on the inside.

"I have a plan, but it's a little risky." Reid told them.

Steve ended up agreeing with Reid while Jake was hesitant. He wasn't sure if that was the best plan of action, seeing as how they had yet to take down Ralf. However Reid handed over all the information that they had gotten on Ralf and it was enough to arrest him and hold him in prison for most of his life.

"C'mon Jake, this is Charlie we're talkin' about here, your little sister, the one you promised your mother you'd look after." Steve said, making up Jake's mind for him.

"Alright let's do this."

….

Morgan had returned to the station over four hours before and the profile had already expanded even more. They were still stuck on the van though because it had fake plates on it. They were looking for the make and model instead. The whole police station seemed to have been picked up and was back on its feet now that the case was moving forward again. The team had moved the board of evidence out into the main room of the station. From their new vantage they could see out the front door and the bullpen.

JJ was staring in a sort of trance out the front door windows; she was the only one on the team unable to truly grasp the fact that Reid was gone. She knew he was dead but she couldn't bring herself to recognize how and why. She hated the fact that he had been addicted to Dilaudid, that he had switched to heroin when it couldn't get him off anymore, and how he died running away from his family. Suddenly as she was watching the front door, three tall men walked in. One was a large, heavily muscled black man, the second was a tall, muscled golden brown haired white man and the last guy was scrawny in comparison to both of them. He had his face hidden by reflective sun glasses and a fedora. He wasn't too thin himself because you could see his muscles in his black v neck t shirt. He had more of a runner's body with a bit of model thrown in. JJ's eyes widened in realization, she was staring at Reid Gray, the infamous drug dealer, the man who had hired Spencer to work for him. The man who got Spencer killed!

"Hotch!" She snapped and he too looked toward the door, as did the rest of the team. They all realized just who they were looking at and quickly made their way to the front of the station.

"Sir?" Officer Moscoe asked as Hotch brushed past him in his beeline to the front door. Danny followed his gaze and his eyes locked with his big brother's.

"Holy shit. Wait! Sir!" Danny shouted, calling the attention of the station.

"Arrest that man!" Hotch commanded to the Chief, who in turn got his handcuffs out and started toward Reid.

"Wait." Jake commanded right back and flashed the chief his merits. They said that he was Captain Jake Moscoe, special ops Marine Core. Steve showed his as well. The team and the chief paused in their attack and Danny pushed through the crowd to stand beside his brother.

"What's going on here?" Morgan asked, taking a step back. JJ had been staring wide eyed.

"Is he some sort of witness or something?!" JJ yelled, steeping closer to Reid who still had yet to say anything, "He got my best friend killed! And you, who are supposed to be on the good side are helping him?!" She all but screeched, letting out her anger.

"I'm not a witness." Reid told her quietly. He slipped off his hat, and his sunglasses, "And I'm not dead either." JJ took two shaky steps backward. The man standing in front of her was Spencer Reid, ex federal agent, dead drug addict, best friend…

"Knew it." Rossi muttered slyly under his breath.

…-…

So there you have it, the long awaited chapter 16. I hope you all enjoyed it. And I really have to thank you all for the reviews. You guys are so wonderful for hanging onto this story and reviewing to tell me to get my ass in gear and write. Thanks so much!

~Love SpiderKate


	17. Chapter 17: Reid Gray Interrogates

AN: So I hate myself a little bit for not updating sooner. I'm sorry! But here it is! Also thanks so much Fiction111, you're PM made me feel really good and helped me past my final block. And also everybody else too, you guys are fabulous! Also Reid's gun looks akin to Dean's gun in supernatural, BTW.

DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Criminal Minds, or its characters. I do however own Charlie, Jake, Steve, Danny, Dmitri and Darius. They live in my closet.

…...-...

"What?" JJ whispered, taking half a step forward, hesitating, for the man standing in front of her was not the same Spencer Reid she had once known. His hair was short and styled, he had a good amount of stubble on his face and he was very well dressed. Neither she nor any of the other BAU members had ever seen Reid look so handsome and put together.

"Let's talk somewhere more privately." Jake suggested, and the stunned Agent Hotchner, led the three men and the rest of his team to the conference room. The BAU team slowly sat down at the rectangular table and faced Reid and the Marines for an exclamation. But before one could come, JJ jumped out of her seat.

"But Hotch shot you!" She said, looking at Reid as if he were a ghost.

"It was a good shot too, probably would've killed me if it weren't for the helmet lining. I was extremely lucky." Reid replied in a lazy manner, the team was shell shocked; he had even changed in the way he spoke.

"Spencer has been working with my group, undercover, for the past five and a half months. We trained him, taught him and moulded him into the character, 'Reid Gray'." Jake added.

"Does anyone know about this? Besides…" Hotch asked, gesturing to the two large men that stood on either side of Spencer.

"Strauss knows, Charlie talked to her before I started to, um, change, I guess, and a few of the uppers in the FBI know." Spencer explained.

"My Uncle is on the board of directors at the FBI, he knows." Jake spoke up.

"Reid, you're telling us that you've been undercover as a drug dealer for all these months and you shot me, yet you're just randomly and out of the blue coming to tell us this why?" Morgan questioned calmly, yet behind his calm was an anger and hurt that could barely be read if it weren't a profiler.

"Charlie has been kidnapped by two men, whom I believe are your unsubs." Reid replied in a steely voice. Danny froze up at this statement, his mouth dropping open and his heart beating overtime. He knew he had felt that something was wrong, call it twin telepathy almost. He had always been somewhat connected to his sister, like the time she was shot in the shoulder, he felt a nervous twitch in his shoulder the entire day. Danny started to breathe a little heavier, he had no idea what those unsubs were going to do to his sister, but he hoped to any deity out there they would not rape her. She could handle anything but that.

Suddenly a hand clapped firmly on Danny's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. Danny tried to slow down his breathing, with his brother's support.

"So you're saying you got my sister kidnapped?" Danny accused quietly. Reid turned to look at him and immediately felt grief at the thought of losing his partner. He quickly covered it up again and put his work face on.

"No, I did not get Charlie kidnapped. She signed up for this job. Before me, if I may add, so she knew the risks."

"Wait just back up a minute," Morgan said, "So you weren't doing drugs?" Reid tensed suddenly.

"No." He ground out, "I was not using Dilaudid." He clenched his fists, he did not want to talk about his almost usage of his old poison.

"But why would you lie? Reid, we understand that you were angry with us…" Hotch began, stepping forward to try to comfort his old agent.

"I _was_ angry with you? I AM angry with you! You lied and betrayed me and pushed me to almost…!" He stopped and took a breath to calm himself, "Look, I need to find my partner before she winds up dead."

"And how to you propose we do that?" Rossi questioned, talking for the first time since just after Reid arrived.

"I'm planning on shaking down some of Darius' and Dmitri's runners, and I want you guys to keep on doing what you're doing. The profile." Reid replied, shrugging his shoulders carelessly.

"So you're going to do this right now?" Reid nodded, "Then I'm coming with you." Morgan stated, standing from his chair. Reid rolled his eyes and sauntered over to him.

"Fine, just stop looking so… Federal Agent like." And with that, Reid left the conference room, getting odd looks and stares as he went, with Morgan trailing behind. Outside, Reid took Charlie's keys to her Challenger which he got out of storage. He was still ignoring Morgan's presence when he entered to muscle car.

"So, you shot me." Morgan said as he sat in the passenger seat. Spencer looked at him for a moment, then started the engine and backed out.

"Yes and I'm sorry." He finally said back to Morgan.

"Why?"

"Because it was necessary for the situation I found myself in." Morgan raised his eyebrow slightly at the comment. Reid however took a deep shuddering breath and tried to let himself calm down. Seeing the team again had brought back an intense longing to work at the BAU again, and also brought back feelings of anger, betrayal and most of all regret. He truly hated seeing the hurt faces of his teammates, and he especially didn't like the look JJ had given him. The look was as if he had come back from the dead, which he sort of did he thought to himself as his cracked and broken ribs reminded him.

"Are you hurt?" Morgan asked, breaking the quiet of the car. Spencer quickly took his eyes off the road and looked at Morgan, truly looked at him for the first time in five and a half months. He was tired looking, his arm in a sling to not jostle the bullet wound and he looked hurt.

"I'm sorry," Reid replied instead of answering the question, "I had to leave the BAU before I went insane. The night that Charlie offered me the job I had bought Dilaudid, filled up a needle and was just about to go for it. She saved me from falling into drugs again and at the time she hadn't even realized I was about to use. And yes, I know I was awful to all of you, but I had to put up a front, it was for a cover story." Reid's mouth turned into a smirk at how well his cover story had worked out.

"You could have just told us." Morgan said.

"I could have, but then you would have never assumed that I could have possibly been the unsub and that would have made the cops not trust the feds even more and that would have created a mess." Reid explained and then as an afterthought, "I left you a note."

"Which I found right before we came to Vegas for this case." Morgan grumbled. He was not in the mood for Reid to act like none of this was affecting him. He knew that Reid was more affected than he was letting on, but he had gotten better at hiding it.

"I'm sorry, I had assumed my desk would have been cleared out and someone would have given you the note." Reid said as they pulled up along a side street. Morgan ignored his apology and looked around him, they were in a worn down part of Vegas, yet still somewhat off the strip.

"Where are we?" Morgan questioned. Reid just shook his head and cut the engine.

"I'm going to need you to do me a favour." Reid said as he reached across the car and opened the glove compartment to remove a silver gun. Morgan raised an eyebrow in confusion; that was not Reid's usual gun.

"What's the favour?" Morgan finally asked after wondering about Reid's new choice in armed assistance.

"Do not interrupt anything I am about to do, do not question it and most certainly do not stop it." Reid told him in a stern Hotch-like voice, with no room to argue.

"What are you going to do?" Morgan questioned, Reid however, did not answer and got out of the car. Morgan quickly followed. They made their way to a darkened alley and inside a deal was occurring. The dealer, Morgan guessed, was thin and wiry with greasy black hair and pale skin. He was handing pills to some kid who was shaking with the strain of wanting them so badly. Morgan heard Reid make a disgusted sound in the back of his throat as he watched the kid pop three pills after receiving them from the dealer. Morgan was about to ask Reid just who they were about to talk to when Reid cleared his throat loudly enough to get the two guys' attention. The younger kid who was popping the pills started and Morgan watched his eyes widen and saw the fear settle into them at the sight of the ex-federal agent. The addict took two shaky steps backward, looking like he was hoping to flee somewhere.

"Did you pay the man?" Reid asked the boy coldly, standing in a relaxed and dominant position. The kid nodded jerkily.

"Then go somewhere else." Reid ordered him; the kid only nodded and ran past Morgan, choosing to stay away from Reid. The dealer looked nervous, clearly he knew that something bad was about to happen. He knew from Reid's posture and the fact that Lily Charleston was not with him that something bad had happened, and his suppliers, Dmitri and Darius were probably involved.

"Hey, Mr. Gray, how can I help you today?" The dealer said and added in a swooping bow in mock respect for the senior dealer. Reid had no patience for the man's games and in two strides grabbed the dealer by his neck and shoved him into the alley wall. Morgan sucked in a small shocked breath; he had never seen Reid do _that_ before.

"My partner is missing. Dmitri and Darius are my top suspects. Where did they take her?" He questioned calmly and with a repressed anger that made the black haired man's eyes widen in fear.

"I, I don't know, I… they…" The dealer stuttered. Reid tightened his grip on the man's neck and pulled his silver gun from the waist band of his pants. With a cool clam Reid clicked the safety off his gun and put it on the dealer's forehead.

"That wasn't the answer I wanted to hear." Reid said very quietly. The dealer was now shaking quite visibly. Morgan on the other hand was quite stunned and slightly appalled by the turn of events. Morgan took a step forward to stop Reid from hurting the dealer when his friend shot him a look. The look stopped him in his tracks; it actually frightened him a bit. He had seen that look on some unsubs who were desperate for what they wanted and knew who they had to kill to get it.

"Look, I don't know nothing about them taking Miss Charleston…" Reid pressed the gun more firmly against his forehead.

"BUT they have this warehouse where they took some hookers! The ones that turned up dead!" The dealer desperately cried. Reid responded by clicking his safety back into place.

"Where?" He questioned stonily. The dealer gave him the address quickly and all in one breath. Reid put his gun back into his pants waistband and shoved the man into the wall.

"Whatever you do, don't tell them that I'm coming, if you do, you won't be alive for very long." Reid threatened and walked with a hunter's grace back to the challenger. Morgan followed him somewhat numbly; unable to comprehend what had just transpired.

Sitting in the cramped car space, Morgan openly gaped at the once shy and innocent Spencer Reid. The same Spencer Reid who had just intimidated, scared, and had a gun to a dealer's head just for information.

"I would've taken a more… tactful approach if we had the time but to be completely honest, we don't." Reid told him with his lazy lilt to his voice that was all too new to Morgan.

"You held a gun to his head." Morgan said quietly. Reid just smirked and Morgan could see the arrogance in his posture.

"Reid Gray has done far worse than that."

…...-...

Charlie had no real sense of where she was. Her body was floating in a drug induced haze and even though she was weighed down because of it, her brain wasn't entirely. She was very much panicking as she realized she would have to battle her addiction a _fourth_ time! She was slowly coming out of her haze when she heard her kidnappers enter where she was being held.

"The bitch is still out?" She heard Dmitri say. Then she heard someone walk close to her and she could feel them breathing on her face. On an impulse decision, she jerked her head forward, hopefully giving whichever guard in front of her a bloody nose.

"OW MOTHER FUCKER!" She heard Darius yell and she opened her eyes to watch blood drip from his nose and onto a warehouse floor? Where the hell was she? She shrugged internally and tried to focus her drugged brain on the issues at hand. She smirked as Darius gave her a murderous glare.

"Well fuckface, that's what you get for kidnapping me, and then drugging me." She said, slurring slightly. Her hands were bound behind her with duct tape and her feet were bound to the chair with the same bindings.

"You bitch!" He snarled. Dmitri quickly held him back as he rushed the tied down Marine.

"Not yet, we have plans for her remember?" Darius only shook with anger then smiled, showing his bloodstained teeth. He lazily walked toward her and leaned close, but not close enough to get his face smashed in again.

"We also have plans for Gray as well." He hissed at her and before she knew what was happening, Dmitri had drugged her again and she was falling into a drugged haze of slight consciousness again.

…...-...

READ THIS! Well here, you guys just couldn't leave me in peace could you. Gah I hope you enjoy this! Haha in all seriousness I feel so bad about not updating, the writer's block coupled with my complete inability to do life has crippled me, but I am finally getting back into the spin of things! Yay! So thank you all do much for your lovely reviews and comments and love because without it I would have never been able to update or feel this guilty! (That last part was a truthful joke) So please R&R and I will hopefully update more again sometime soon, and not in three months! THANKS SO MUCH! I would love to name all of you that reviewed but I am seriously too lazy but trust me when I say I'd become a polygamist and marry all of you!

~Love SpiderKate


	18. Chapter 18: The Argument

The drive back to the station was silent other than the purr of the challenger's engine. Morgan kept sneaking glances at the once shy and reserved Spencer Reid as if he were some sort of alien. Spencer however was focused on the task at hand, getting his partner back. Threatening the harmless, or somewhat harmless, runner was not really a part of Reid's plan. However sacrifices were to be made if they could get Charlie back before any permanent damage was done.

At the police station, tensions were running high. Ace, Adhey and Steve, the three other team members of Charlie and Reid's had shown up and were talking to their captain. The BAU were still trying to figure out their feelings. JJ was especially emotional seeing her transformed best friend. She was unable to truly comprehend just how much Reid had changed. She didn't want to accept how much he had changed, she just wanted her best friend back.

"Jayje?" Emily asked her suddenly, stirring her from her thoughts. Emily had gotten up and stood beside the lost in thought agent.

"I'm fine, just thinking." JJ answered, disturbing the silence that the team had grown between them.

"Are you sure? You looked upset…"

"What ever happened to the 'no profiling team members' rule?" JJ wondered teasingly. Rossi turned to her with a smirk.

"I don't believe that rule ever existed." He told her. JJ just smiled and looked down at her lap, once again losing herself to her thoughts. Rossi was not overly shocked at the turn of events; he always seemed to know more than he would let on. He had a strange feeling that Reid was fine even when the rest of the team was worried to their wits end.

"Found her." Came Spencer's voice through the open doorway of the conference room, "Or at least I have a location of where she might be." He then sauntered into the room and straight toward the map on the bulletin board. He grabbed a pen that was nearby and circled the point on the map, in the older part of Las Vegas, where Charlie was possibly being held.

"It's an isolated place that no one ever visits, well besides the homeless and addicts; there won't be many people around." Reid stated, turning back around to look at his old team and his new one. His new team had looks of approval on their faces; the BAU team however, were sporting concerned faces.

"How did you get that information so quickly?" Emily asked Reid. His answer was to shrug his shoulders, but he did not escape judgement as Morgan answered for him.

"He threatened a drug dealer with his gun." Morgan told the team, his voice cold and angry. The BAU team was shocked, the Marines however looked passive, like that was an everyday occurrence, which for some, it was.

"That is not how we do things, Reid, you know that!" Hotch exclaimed suddenly. 

"I'm not sure if you remember this or not, Hotch, but I am _not_ a part of the FBI anymore." Reid stated calmly, adding a glare to Hotch in the process. Hotch decided that he could take no more of Reid's attitude and in a swift movement; grabbed Reid by the upper arm and dragged him out of the room and outside. As soon as they reached their destination, the back door of the police station, Hotch shoved Reid through and followed after. Reid was rubbing at his arm as Hotch closed the back door; he was also glaring at him as hard as he could.

"Your behaviour is going to stop right now." Hotch told him icily. Spencer raised an eyebrow at the authoritative tone of voice coming from his ex-boss.

"I'm terribly sorry that you don't care for my attitude, but the thing is, you are not the boss of me anymore, hence you can't tell me what to do." Spencer replied sarcastically. Hotch gave him the criminal stare down look and shoved Reid against the wall of the police station.

"You're acting like this because we betrayed you, I get it, but that does not been you get to be a complete jerk to everyone who talks to you. Nor does it mean that you are allowed to threaten people with guns. You are not this person, you know it, I know it, the team knows it and I'm betting Charlie knows it too. Reid you don't need to act like this because you're hurt, you need to learn how to forgive. Knowing Charlie she probably would have told you that…" Hotch lectured, but at the mention of Charlie, Reid shoved Hotch away from him.

"You know nothing about what Charlie has said to me! I can trust her, not you!" Reid shouted, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Reid…"

"Because of you and your stupid lie, I lost a friend; I went through the grieving process, something I was never good at! And I had the added bonus of a drug addiction! I almost… I almost…" He paused then continued, "Charlie stopped me, and she saved me from myself. None of you even saw how badly I was breaking! JJ let me into her house when I was crying over losing Emily, but not once did she ever tell me the truth, she just let me believe that Emily was dead. Maybe if you hadn't lied to me, none of this would have happened!" Reid snapped and turned on his heel and walked away. His anger blinded him to where he was going and Reid ended up walking along a very deserted street.

…

"Where's Reid?" Morgan asked when Hotch returned to the conference room. He noted the serious look on his boss' face and the heavy set eyes.

"Reid has gone for a walk to calm down." Hotch told his team. Jake however, turned an angry look toward Hotch.

"You let him go off on his own?" He accused.

"I couldn't have stopped him." Hotch replied.

"Well you should have! Those nut jobs already have Charlie; you want them to have Reid too?" Jake asked. Hotch paused, in his anger at Reid's behaviour he had forgotten the situation they were in.

"He should be fine." Steve said suddenly, "After all, I trained the scrawny bastard; he could at least put his training to good use." Morgan and JJ flinched at the term 'scrawny bastard' even though to Steve, it was used as a term of endearment.

"Those psychos have Charlie; you really think a less experienced operative is going to be alright?" Adhey reasoned for Jake. Steve only shrugged in a 'you never know' sort of manner.

"Well for his sake and ours, let's get on the streets and find him. Ace, Aaron, you two go look through the south, Adhey up the strip, Steve try for back alleys and the underground and I will stay here in hopes that he comes back." Jake ordered. His team nodded and set out to do their jobs.

"Your team is very efficient." Rossi noted from where he sat. He was a former Marine and he had not once seen a team that fast and organized.

"It's what we're trained for." Jake stated.

"Jake, I need to talk to you." Danny said from where he quietly sat in the corner of the conference room. His older brother nodded and they set out for a private room, leaving the BAU alone.

"He's been with _them_ for the past five and a half months?" Morgan exclaimed, straining his shoulder. He winced at the burning pain and was reminded of how he received the wound in the first place.

"They changed him…" Emily quietly added.

"And not for the better, he's so cold. He's lifeless, he isn't the Reid we know." JJ muttered in a sallow tone. She wanted everything to be back to the way it was, with Reid acting himself and not the stranger she had recently met.

"No he isn't the Reid we know; although, not all the changes were bad." Morgan shot an incredulous look toward the elder agent.

"How are they 'not all bad' Rossi? He's a completely unbalanced dick now." Morgan sneered.

"But did you see how he held himself? His posture? He no longer slouched, his chin was held high and he had confidence that was so rarely there when he was _our Reid_." Rossi told his team. He knew that the agents just wanted their friend and teammate back, but maybe that wasn't what was best for Reid.

….

I have no words. Sorry, I suck as an author? Will that do? School has started so I thought I'd give everyone a present. Here you go, Read and Review, the reviews guilt me into writing and this took so long due to health and stuff, soooo anyway. Here's an update.

~Love SpiderKate

PS sorry its so short!


	19. Chapter 19: The Breakdown

DISCLAIMER: I own naught the character of Criminal Minds.

I do own my characters that you haven't heard of until I started writing.

ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

….

"Reid…" A dreamy voice said, floating through the muddled darkness that had become Reid's brain. He wasn't overly aware of anything besides that the pain in his body, from his aching cracked ribs, to his dislocated shoulder, had all but disappeared. In his painless bliss he sighed happily, forgoing any worry that maybe he _should_ be feeling the pain.

"Reid, so help me if you don't open your damn eyes I will kick you in the balls right now." The voice said, a little more demanding and all but shattering the dreamy, painless place in his brain. His eyes sluggishly blinked open and he noticed that his hands were tied to a chair, and that he could feel another person's hands at his back. He lifted his head and saw that he was in a large open space and everything was hazy. Perhaps it was the fact that his sight was slightly off or that he finally registered the painlessness in his body, but whatever the reason, Reid finally noted the narcotic in his system.

"No." He moaned out, praying to any deity that he was just imagining the effects of Dilaudid coursing through his bloodstream. Spencer did not want to deal with it again, with the debilitating addiction and the even harder withdrawal.

"Look, Reid, I'm in the same boat as you right now but I need you to try to throw your brain together and use it." Charlie said from behind him, sounding surprisingly sober.

"They, they drugged me." He whimpered, his mind figuring out which way his addiction might go, from being able to get off of the drugs, or becoming an addicted mess.

"Me too. I get it okay? I'm going to go insane with this addiction again, but we need to get out of here." She told him, her hand grabbing his from where they were tied behind their backs.

"Where is here?" He asked, his shaking hands grabbing hers for comfort.

"Some abandoned warehouse, I think?" She replied and her hand momentarily clenched against his. Her palms were sweaty and she was shaking a little bit too hard.

"Did they stop drugging you?" Reid questions, his mind noting that even though they are both more than worse for wear when on drugs, either one of them is death warmed over when going through withdrawal.

"Not yet today." Her voice sounded slightly odd. She usually had a strong voice, filled with the confidence she felt, but her voice was weak and watery it radiated with need for the drug.

"Do you remember how they got you?" Reid thought this over through his muddled brain. He remembered walking angrily away from Hotch and everyone else, the fast pace he took through the side streets of Las Vegas and the two men that jumped him from behind. His heart almost stopped when he remembered the almost non-existent prick in his neck and then everything going dark. If he didn't have such a good memory he also wouldn't have remembered the struggle he put up.

"They jumped me. And uh, I think I broke Dmitri's arm. It could have been Darius though, they look the same." He told her. Charlie smiled at the thought of Reid using his training to break someone's arm.

"We still need to get out of here." Charlie's breath caught suddenly as a wave of tremors spread through her body. She hadn't been given much Heroin but it was still enough for her body and mind to recognize it and crave it again. Thankfully she wouldn't have overly bad withdrawals, as long as she didn't continue to use it.

"I'm so sorry, but you two aren't going anywhere." Darius said as he meandered into the large room from a door off to the left of Reid. The ceiling was high and warehouse-like, and there were a few oil barrels and crate holders still lying around. Charlie glared at him as he came closer.

"Awe, now that you aren't high as a kite you're unhappy? Well I can help you with that…" He crooned at her as he pulled out a new syringe and vile of what Charlie could only assume was heroin.

"Leave her alone." Reid exclaimed as loudly as he could in his inebriated state. What he got in return was a backhand smack across the face that left him seeing black and white dots floating across his vision. Charlie cringed at the sound of her partner being hit, but even more so at the drugs that were to be entered into her system.

"Why can't you just torture me instead? Break out the knives and sharp objects and cut me up…" She muttered angrily as Darius came to face her with a loaded needle. She eyed it warily and gave Darius another death glare.

"Well I can always pull off these jeans here and see what Gray there finds so great." Darius whispered in her ear in what would have been a loving gesture had it not been that he was a raging psychopath. Charlie was too fearful of his words and didn't even notice when the needle slid into her slack arm, she did however notice the feeling of euphoria spreading through her body.

Suddenly Charlie was grabbed by her hair, its long brown locks tightly coiled in Darius' fingers, to look im in the eye. He was slightly blurry from her drugged perspective but she could still identify the menacing look in his eyes.

"Listen here bitch and listen well: You and your partner here are on death row and the drugs that I am pumping you full of are a gift, for… Well let's say they're for being such good guards and I guess acquaintances to me and my brother; even if he did break his arm." Darius said and then a smile crept onto his face, "Speaking of broken arms…" Darius quickly moved to Reid's side and grabbed his left arm, where his shoulder was dislocated and promptly re-dislocated it. Reid's scream of pain was short lived as Darius cut him off by squeezing his hand around his throat. All Reid could do was wheeze helplessly and feel the burn of his shoulder that knocked away the pleasure of the Dilaudid.

"I hated you the most, always thinking you're so much smarter than everyone else. That condescending look in your eyes, you disgust me." With that said he pulled his gun from the waist band of his pants and used the butt of it to knock Spencer into unconsciousness.

"Don' touch him!" Charlie slurred. Darius was quite suddenly in front of her again, she hadn't even noticed him moving.

"Shut up you little whore." He hissed and then Charlie's vision went black.

It was only a little while later that Reid came to. His shoulder was throbbing and his stomach was twisting. He could feel his hands shaking behind his back and knew immediately he was having mild withdrawals. He could feel dried blood sticking to his face and pulling against his hair every time he turned his face. Groaning he reached to grab Charlie's fingers behind him. Her hands were cold as ice and for one hideous moment he thought she may have been dead. That moment, however, passed when he heard her move and start retching. Reid cringed as he heard a small amount of liquid patter against the cement floor.

"Charlie?" He asked quietly. His head was throbbing terribly and he couldn't see very well. Just saying Charlie's name sent splinters of pain racing through his brain.

"I'm 'kay, jus' nauseous." She replied in a slurred and almost drunken voice.

"How much did he give you?"

"Nothing more, he hit me in the head." Charlie almost whined in pain when talking felt like someone had taken a hammer to her skull.

"Same." Reid told her, in a quieter voice, the room had started to spin and was making him nauseous, so he shut his eyes and didn't even notice when he fell into unconsciousness.

"Reid?" Charlie questioned in the silence that had enveloped them, "Reid?" Her fingers clenched his and she tried again to get him to answer her.

"Reid, c'mon, need to stay awake!" She mumbled, trying to get her thoughts in order and quell the panic that had started to rise in her. Her breath started to hitch and her chest became tight.

"Reid, please wake up." She sobbed as the situation got the best of her. She was afraid, she never liked to admit it, but she was. She couldn't handle this alone, and even though Reid was kidnapped right alongside her, she was thankful. She needed someone with her at that moment. But with Reid out cold like he was she felt completely alone. She was terrified, her breath hitching in uncontrollable sobs that left her gasping for air and her head pounding even more. Tears streamed down her face, destroying her already ruined make up even more. She was wishing for anyone to be with her, she wanted Reid to be awake, she wanted her older sister and her motherly gestures, her older brother and his secret comfort, her dad even! But most of all she wanted Danny, he was the only one who could calm her down and understand her. He knew her the best out of anyone in the world. He stopped her drug addiction time and time again…

"I… I can't do this...Not… Not again!" She cried before she became lost in trying to breathe through her sobbing.

….

"I was starting to wonder when she'd lose it." Dmitri said as he lit up a cigarette in the corner of the large warehouse room. Lily Charleston's hysterical crying echoed throughout and Dmitri and Darius barely even noticed it.

"But did you notice it?" Darius asked. Dmitri raised and eyebrow.

"That he called her Charlie? Yeah I noticed, why?"

"Well that's not her name." Darius replied like it was obvious. Dmitri sighed and smacked him upside the head.

"It's a shortened version of her last name you dumbass." Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, Dmitri pondered why he had ever agreed to work with his idiot, psychopathic brother.

"Anyway, we need to bring Ralf here, keep them drugged up and make him believe that they're the murderers and not us." Darius nodded his agreement, and the two headed out, leaving the warehouse unguarded.

…

"He's been taken." Steve said as he walked through the conference room doors, an angry look marring his features.

"You're sure?" Jake asked as the agents in the room became more agitated. Morgan's shoulder throbbed in pain, reminding him what Reid had done, but that didn't mean anything to him. Reid was his best friend; he couldn't let anything happen to him, not again, not after Hankel.

Danny looked worriedly at his brother, he was very on edge since Charlie had been taken, but Reid now too? He didn't want to lose his new friend, or Charlie's partner for that matter.

"I found his phone and his sun glasses." He brought the two items from his pocket. Both were broken, the sun glasses lenses were broken and the phone was smashed.

"There goes tracking him." Ace muttered as he and Aaron joined the others.

"Alright, call Adhey and tell us to meet us at this location," Jake ordered pointing to where Reid had circled on the map, "He doesn't move until we all get there." His team nodded their agreement and they started getting ready. They had some SWAT machine guns packed with them, as well as their glocks.

"We're coming too." Hotch announced as his team stood with him. Jake sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"And me." Danny added quietly from where he sat at his brother's side.

"Danny…" Jake started but Danny stopped him.

"If she's freaking out or if anything bad has happened you know she'll want me there." He said with an unwavering certainty.

"Alright, but you are to stay out of the warehouse until my men and I have cleared it, understood?" Danny nodded, "We don't even know if they are even there for sure though…" Jake added, making sure his younger brother knew that there was a possibility of not finding their sister.

"As for you Feds, you'll be waiting outside until we clear the building as well." Jake ordered, Hotch started to protest until Aaron held up his hand, signalling him to stop.

"Think of us as a SWAT team, you don't usually go in a dangerous situation until SWAT goes in first, and seeing as these are our operatives, we will go in first and you will wait for us." Aaron told him. Hotch, never one to back down from a fight, had no choice but to back down from the fight. He couldn't argue with their logic and he didn't want any of his team member shot by one of the marine operatives. (Or in Morgan's case, shot again.)

"Fine, we'll do it your way." Hotch agreed and some of the stress melted off Jake's very stressed and serious face. His team, now ready and suited up, waited for his order as the FBI agents strapped on bullet proof vests and informed the local police of what was happening.

Hopefully this would be an easy grab and go, but when dealing with Charlie or Reid, nothing was ever as easy as it first looked.

….

I seriously have no idea where all this angst came from, it just kind of exploded out of me! I hadn't even planned on doing this to them, but it just kind of happened. I guess all the angst in my life decided to be put into words. Anyway, thank you so much for reading and sticking with the story for as long as you have. Please Review with love!

~Love SpiderKate


	20. Chapter 20: The Rescue

AN PLEASE QUICKLY READ: HOLY SHIT. I UPDATED, HALLELUJAH IT'S A MIRACLE! Guys, you have no idea how sorry I am that I haven't updated in forever, I honestly just lost interest in writing everything. I am so sorry. But hopefully this extra-long and extra action packed chapter will make it up to you. I love you all and thank you so much for following this story at it's birth and soon to be retirement. Your reviews recently kept me writing. So thank you all so much! Anyway, now that you've read this, onto the LONG awaited chapter.

….

Damien and Darius were on the way back to the warehouse where Charlie and Reid were being held. They had gone to Ralf's club to bring him back, telling him that Charlie and Reid had been the ones that were killing those women, when in reality it was them. Ralf had believed them whole heartedly because he trusted them with his life ever since they had started working for him eight years prior. As it would turn out, Reid hadn't broken Dmitri's arm, just fractured it so they had wrapped It quickly and gave him oxy to dull the pain. They had another SUV driving behind them, carrying more guards for Ralf, seeing as he was one of the most important gangsters in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile Jake's team, the BAU and a SWAT team were on their way to the same warehouse. Danny was with them, wearing a vest and trying not to anxiously chew his fingernails, a habit he had grown out of years before. His sister, his other half, was in trouble and he had to save her, he felt like he did when he found her OD'ed in the upstairs bathroom of their house in Maine. He was not ready to lose his twin, he wouldn't let that happen.

"SWAT and my team are going to enter the building first, once we tell you it is clear, your team and Danny may enter. Got it?" Jake announced to Hotch and Morgan who were in the same SUV as Aaron, Danny and Chase, the rest of the BAU was in the second SUV with Steve and Adhey. Jake was not prepared to lose any of his people, including Reid.

"How long until we get there Dmitri?" Jack Ralf asked as he sat in the back of a dark sedan with two guns in his shoulder holsters.

"Five more minutes sir." Darius answered for his brother. His smirk turned devilish, he was getting out of his punishment that he knew would be torturous and awful, yet would be inflicted on two very innocent guards.

In the abandoned warehouse, Charlie had exhausted herself crying, she was now staring listlessly at the wall a few feet away from her. Reid still hadn't woken up and she was trying to work her confidence back up. She was trying to be a soldier again, something she had lost when crying in front of the enemy. She scrunched her eyes shut as waves of repressed memories flashed before her eyes, Tyler Crane and Terrance Michaels being at the forefront. She had never been as terrified as she had been when they kidnapped her. The sounds of the girls being murdered echoed in her ears, she had never thought she would end up in the same position again. Drugged and tied up, waiting for death.

Reid's fingers twitched, his brain was slowly forcing him back into consciousness; a place he really would rather not be. Constant shivers ran through his body and his head was in excruciating pain, an indicator of a concussion from being hit by Darius. Somewhat distractedly Reid heard the sounds of another person in the room with him: Charlie. She was sniffling slightly, as if she had been crying and her arms were moving restlessly behind her back where they were almost connected with Reid's own. Hesitantly Reid tried opening his eyes, only to be assaulted with blinding pain caused by the white florescent lights illuminating the warehouse. Squinting in obvious pain, Reid tried to reorganize his thoughts. He wouldn't let the pain of a small concussion prevent him from finding a way out of his present situation.

"Charlie…?" He questioned in a small voice, trying not to worsen his headache with any loud noises.

"Reid! You're awake!" Charlie exclaimed in a somewhat desperate voice. That was the first thing that clued him in that something was wrong with his partner. The second was that her voice was thick and that she had definitely been crying.

"You were crying." It wasn't a question, but a statement, proving once again that she could hide nothing from Reid, an ex BAU profiler. The profiler in him never did die.

"I'm fine." She told him, her heart hurting as she could feel the walls she worked so hard to build turning into dust from the initial breakdown. Reid sighed, he had to help her pull it together, which was unusual in their relationship. She was stronger than he was, she had gone through more than he could imagine, yet he knew she would always need someone to understand her and pick her up when she fell, like in that instance then.

"You aren't, but you will be. Charlie we will get out of here, we will arrest them and we will be fine. They cannot break us." He said to her, quoting Gideon a small bit when Reid had been held captive in Georgia. After some deep breaths, Charlie replied, in a small but determined voice.

"You're right. We need to get out of here." Reid nodded in agreement, forgetting that Charlie was not able to see him, he was about to reply verbally when the sudden loud sound of squealing tires cut him off.

"They're here." Reid announced monotonously, his voice watered down with a foreboding sense of dread. However, before Charlie could answer, more tires were heard and then the gunshots started.

…

"STAY DOWN." Jake yelled overtop the sound of gunfire. SWAT was fighting back against the plethora of gangsters, all in different places of cover around the abandoned warehouse. SWAT had taken cover immediately after jumping out of their van. The BAU and Jake's team were using the SUVs as cover but were trying to find a way inside the building.

"Well, they're obviously being held here." Ace stated. Jake shot him a quick look and then returned his concentration to the massive gun battle occurring.

"Jake!" Steve shouted, pointing to a black escalade across from them. Jack Ralf was being escorted by his body guards into the warehouse. Jake immediately shot the bodyguard flanking Ralf's left and Steve took out the one in front, leaving Ralf exposed on his left side. Aaron, who was an amazing marksman had taken out his sniper and had assembled in in the SUV, with a shocked BAU team watching. He quickly dropped to the ground, aligned his shot and blasted two bullet holes into both of Ralf's legs, taking him down. The two guards with him took off into the warehouse.

"Damnit! We need to go after them!" Jake exclaimed, he was about to move when he noticed that Agent Morgan, Hotchner and Jareau had disappeared, as well as his baby brother.

"FUCK. Steve, get inside that building, we'll take care of things out here." Steve nodded and quickly made his way into the warehouse.

The large metal door made a very intimidating screech as it opened. Steve's weapon was at the ready and he stuck to the shadows of the warehouse. All too soon he made his way to the main room, the massive open space holding Reid and Charlie. He was however too late. Dmitri and Darius were holding the pair up, guns pressed to their temples.

…..

"Move any closer and you'll be cleaning their brains up off the floor." Darius said as he pressed his gun more forcefully into Charlie's head. Her arms were still tightly bound behind her back, her legs were free however and she was wracking her brain with a way to use that. Reid on the other hand was trying to find a way to talk them down, to use his brain and try to ignore the pounding and dizziness that had started when he was pulled into a standing position. Dmitri had his left arm hanging at his side, but he barely noticed the pain from his fractured limb after taking another shot of oxy.

Darius and Dmitri were, sadly, the first to reach them. They had quickly undone the leg bindings on Charlie and Reid and forced them to stand, and then promptly put their guns to the undercover operatives' heads. They were just about to get the hell out of the warehouse, with hostages in tow, when Morgan, JJ, Hotch and Danny rushed in. They had their guns at the ready, aiming to kill.

"Think about this, it's over. You have nowhere left to go. We know who you are and what you've done." Hotch told them, glaring daggers at the man who was holding Reid hostage.

"He's right you know." Reid spoke up suddenly, as Dmitri was trying to think of another escape plan. He had noticed Dmitri was high and that could be used to his advantage. Normally Dmitri was very in control but he was unorganized and almost unpredictable the few times Reid had seen him high.

"Shut up." Dmitri growled, his palms had started to sweat due to his nerves. Reid rolled his eyes, turned his head slightly and threw on the smuggest grin he had ever used.

"You're screwed Dmitri." He said arrogantly. Dmitri cursed and turned Reid around very abruptly, so abruptly that the gun he was holding moved away from Reid and to his right, giving Reid an opening. Quicker than anyone who knew Reid before his training could see, Reid head butted Dmitri, knocking the man off balance even more, causing his left hand and fractured arm to come up to cover his bleeding nose. As he brought the gun around again, Charlie broke free of Darius by hitting her head into his chin, causing him to drop his gun, and then quickly turning so that she could kick him in the groin, with her steel toed boots. Before Dmitri could fire at Reid, Charlie round house kicked his wrist, almost snapping it with the amount of force, combined with her reinforced boots, making him drop his gun and Reid able to kick him quickly in the groin and as he was going down, forcefully kick upwards into Dmitri's chin, effectively knocking him out. The entire sequence of events barely took more than a minute to complete, and JJ, Morgan and Hotch watched astounded as their youngest agent moved with a speed and grace none of them had ever seen before.

The two undercover operatives were breathing heavily, Reid's head had begun pounding even more and he had begun shaking. Charlie was staring breathlessly at Reid, proud of what he had done. Provoking the man could have either ended up in getting Reid shot, or the result that happened. She thanked every god out there that he was okay. The two smiled at each other and Reid distractedly, out of the corner of his eye saw Danny rush over to embrace his sister. But he quickly took notice of his face, and then the faces of his team members, they all had terror written on them. Reid's brain, of course, processed this in a matter of seconds, but Charlie didn't have an extreme intelligence. Charlie was also drugged, hurt and a tad bit traumatized and wasn't quite paying attention to her surroundings as she should. Danny was running to her now, desperate to get to her.

"Charlie, MOVE!" He yelled, jumping in between her and Darius, who had gotten his gun back. Steve, who had entered the large room, with his gun by his side, had let his guard down and had not seen Darius' move toward his gun. At the call of her name, Charlie turned quickly, her bindings cutting into her wrists, to see her brother jumping in front of her. Two gunshots were fired and Danny stumbled into her, hitting her unprepared body, causing them both to crash to the hard cement floor. Darius was lying dead in front of them, a bullet to the head from Steve's gun, Steve who was rushing over with the BAU team to where Charlie, Reid and Danny were. However Charlie stopped being aware of anything but the blood running from her brother.

"Danny!" Steve shouted when he reached the two on the ground, Charlie in shock and too dazed to move and Danny, unconscious with a bullet hole in his shoulder and no exit wound.

Reid was still standing, extremely stunned by the turn of events. Hotch was in the process of cutting Reid's bindings and Morgan had moved Charlie into a sitting position so he could cut apart her's. Steve had, by that point, stripped Danny of his vest and shirt to get a better look at the wound. From what he could tell it had gone in at an angle, not coming out through the other side of his shoulder. The bullet was still rattling around inside him, which worried Steve to no end, because he could be internally bleeding.

The sound of gunshots outside had stopped altogether, and the rest of the BAU team and Jake were in the warehouse. Jake, upon seeing his pale, and covered in blood younger brother, ran to him, disregarding the BAU team.

"Danny?" He asked quietly, hoping for an answer and not getting one. Charlie had yet to move from her frozen position on the floor and her face had lost all color.

"Reid are you alright?" JJ asked, somewhat tentatively, still afraid of the anger he had toward her, Hotch and Emily.

"I'm fine." He said, not looking at her, but instead, going to shakily kneel down beside his partner. He placed his arm around her and pulled her into an embrace. She willingly went into his arms, having no strength to hold herself up anymore. Finally broken from her trance Charlie started to shake, tears leaking from her eyes. She didn't notice anything around her besides Reid's arms around her quaking body and her brother's bleeding form. She didn't notice Morgan handcuffing Dmitri, or Prentiss checking Darius' pulse to confirm his death. Nor did she notice when the paramedics arrived and began working on her brother. She had stopped noticing anything, and she didn't even care.

Reid however was aware of everything going on around him. He was aware of his team talking amongst themselves about him. He was aware of Jake brokenly whispering to Danny that everything would be okay, He was aware he had started telling Charlie the same things. He was aware that Charlie had started digging her nails into his arms for some sort of anchor. But most importantly he was aware that the Dilaudid that was once in his bloodstream was slowly making it's way out in a very uncomfortable way. His brow was dotted with sweat, his body ached, fingers trembled and he felt like throwing up.

"Reid?" Jake said suddenly, snapping Spencer from his thoughts, he had stopped being aware at some point, he wasn't sure when.

"Yeah?" He answered, Charlie had passed out in his arms, a limp ragdoll with tears streaming down her face.

"There is an ambulance here for you and Charlie, Danny has already been taken to the hospital, Steve is with him." Jake told him in a quiet and slow voice, like he was talking to the victim of some horrible crime, which, Reid thought darkly, was technically true.

"Alright…" He mumbled, his old team was standing near him, they all had looks of worry on their faces.

"I'm going to carry Charlie out, okay?" Reid nodded, "Your friends Morgan and Hotch are going to help you out, okay?" Reid nodded again, not really feeling like speaking, the exhaustion from the previous events were finally shutting him down. Jake gently maneuvered Charlie out from Reid's embrace and lifted her from the ground. He carried her bridal style out of the warehouse and Reid absentmindedly watched them leave.

"Reid, were going to get you up now." Morgan said to him, bringing him out of him mind once more. Morgan grabbed Reid's left arm and Hotch grabbed his right, they then hefted him up and put his arms around their shoulders. Reid gasped from the pain that shot through his dislocated shoulder and cracked ribs. Having feeling in everything hurt, Reid thought. Morgan and Hotch tried to adjust to make him more comfortable but Reid had already started to sink back into the oblivion of his thoughts. Together the trio made their way out of the warehouse. Morgan and Hotch were trying their best to ignore the dazed look to the ex FBI agent's face and the way almost every step he took could not support his weight. JJ and Prentiss watched Reid as he seemed to give up and all fight drained from his body, his stumbling steps were contradictory to what JJ had witnessed Reid do earlier. She could not believe that their once mild mannered profiler could fight a man holding a gun with two hands behind his back. Rossi took up the flank and watched his newly reunited family, all their looks and expressions, carefully taking them all in so that he could somehow find a way to bring all of them back together.

Upon his arrival to the ambulance, Reid was taken into the back and laid on a stretcher beside Charlie. She was still unconscious and Reid thought to himself that that was a place he would like to be. He shut his eyes and let the black spots that he had seen obscuring his vision take up all the space.

"I'm sorry but we don't have enough room to let any of you ride with us." The paramedic said to Jake.

"That's fine, we'll follow you." Hotch answered, for Jake looked too emotionally drained and worried to be the leader.

Thankfully more cops had arrived which gave the BAU and Jake a way to get to the hospital since the SUVs were riddled with bullet holes. The rest of the Marines special ops team was staying behind to help clean up the mess. Ambulances had also taken away the injured mob members and the mob boss himself, who was being treated for two bullet wounds in his legs. He was then going to be arrested and charged. Danny's condition was bad from what the paramedic had said and Jake was anxious to get to the hospital. He was in a car with Hotch, and JJ who looked equally as anxious.

"Why him?" JJ asked suddenly, breaking the silent tension growing around the three.

"What, you mean Spencer?" Jake replied.

"Yes."

"We needed someone who was smart enough to see right through the guys he was sent in to arrest. We needed someone thin and lean so that we could make him look the part. We needed someone who was able to cheat at every card game in the book and make it look like he was an excellent card player. But most of all we needed someone who looked quite disarming but could break an arm if needed." Jake told them. JJ had never once thought of Reid like that, she had thought of him as sweet and innocent and smart. He was nerdy and nice and he hated to shoot people or harm them in any way. She never had thought of him as anything more that the nicest and most innocent kid in the world. But maybe that's where she went wrong, JJ thought, maybe if she had thought of him as a mature person who was able to do so much more than what he did around the team, he wouldn't have left.

"You trained him well." Hotch announced from the front of the police cruiser.

"He was actually a very fast learner, and he wanted to learn what we taught him. His long limbs made the techniques and style of fighting we taught him quite useful." Hotch nodded thoughtfully, he had never expected Reid would be able to move like that. In fact he had never expected a lot of things from Reid. He should have never underestimated the youngest agent.

"Thank you for taking such good care of him." Hotch said. Jake smiled slightly from where he was sitting.

"That was all Charlie."

….

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO "Lo" You reviewed like some time ago, but I saw it tonight and it made me finish tis chapter and update it. Also to Fiction111, you constantly attack me with reviews and PMs and I totally appreciate it. And I would love to name everyone who reviews and reads by name and I will eventually but not right now because it's one in the morning and I have school tomorrow. Thank you for loving this story as much as I love writing,

~Love SpiderKate


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